It is not often that a mother is relieved to bury her child, but Mrs Margaret McKinney said she would sleep easier now knowing that her son, Brian, had been laid to rest.
Mrs McKinney (68) said: "I wouldn't have wanted to go to my grave without Brian being properly buried. For years I've had nowhere to mourn him. Now I'll be able to go to his grave and talk to him. I'll have somewhere to bring flowers and to cry."
Several hundred people attended Requiem Mass for Brian McKinney in St Teresa's Church, Andersonstown, west Belfast, on Saturday.
Brian (22), and his friend, John McClory, were abducted, killed and secretly buried by the IRA 21 years ago. They were accused of stealing an IRA weapon for use in a robbery. Their remains were found in a bog at Colgagh, Co Monaghan, in June.
The Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Patrick Walsh, described their murders and the recent expulsions by paramilitaries as "vile crimes against humanity".
He said the politicians taking part in Senator George Mitchell's review of the implementation of the Belfast Agreement must stop point-scoring. They owed it to the thousands bereaved in the Troubles to deliver a permanent peace.
"For their sakes, and for all our sakes, there must now be a final resolution to the conflict which has inflicted such untold suffering on every sector of our community.
"All right-thinking people demand a resolution. Let us not be treated next week to further fatuous posturing or empty point-scoring. There is far too much at stake for that - lives are at stake. It is time for the exercise of responsibility, for the exercise of leadership with courage and integrity."
He said the McKinney family, other families of the "disappeared" and all victims of violence had suffered greatly in the Northern conflict.
The names of the disappeared whose bodies have not been found were read out during the service.
Among the mourners were the SDLP Assembly member, Dr Joe Hendron, and Mr Seamus McKendry, whose mother-in-law, Jean McConville, is one of the disappeared. Both helped carry the coffin.
Brian McKinney was buried in Milltown Cemetery, just yards from where John McClory was laid to rest the previous day.