ANYONE WITH even the “tiniest item” of information about the whereabouts of bodies of the “Disappeared” related to the Troubles should pass it on to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains, Cardinal Seán Brady has urged.
The Catholic primate yesterday celebrated the annual Mass of Remembrance for the Disappeared in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh.
Speaking ahead of the Mass, Cardinal Brady again appealed for public assistance in tracing the bodies of those who were killed and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries, mostly the IRA.
“I hope that those who have even the tiniest item of information will have the courage to pass it on and so, perhaps, help to ease the pain of the families who have suffered so much for so long,” he said.
The last body to be recovered was that of Danny McIlhone, the 19-year-old Belfast man who was murdered by the IRA in 1981. His buried remains were located in the Wicklow Mountains late last year.
Scientific experts working with the commission are currently examining a site in Co Meath where the IRA said it buried two men it murdered in 1972, Kevin McKee and Séamus Wright, both from Belfast and aged 25.
SDLP Assembly member Dominic Bradley, who attended the Mass with party leader Mark Durkan, also said it was “time for those who did the worst and have said the least to step up to the mark” and provide information that would bring comfort to the families involved.
“The families of the Disappeared have been robbed of the consolation of waking and burying their loved ones in accordance with the faith in which they were raised.
“They have been left, in many cases for decades, asking why, and are left to wonder about their fate,” he said.
“Those who quite rightly demand justice, equality, human rights and the truth about the past must ensure that they too afford the same rights to others who yearn for them,” added Mr Bradley.
“Serious questions still continue about the conduct of the IRA in all the cases of the Disappeared. These doubts and questions must be answered in the only way possible – that all information is handed over, and that those who the IRA know are withholding information are also handed over to the authorities, once and for all.
“There can be no reason for anyone with information not to come forward. It is important that this message is conveyed as widely as possible,” he said.
