'Please bring an end to our suffering': Grieving families of Disappeared call for information ahead of Stormont memorial walk
Grieving families of the Disappeared are to lay a wreath at Stormont today, as a new call has gone out to find their whereabouts.
The remains of five people known to have been murdered and secretly buried have still never been found, and despite numerous probes no trace of them is known.
At 12.30pm their relatives will carry out the 20th annual All Souls silent walk in their memory, solemnly journeying from Carson’s Statue to the steps of parliament buildings where they will lay a black wreath with five white lilies representing their missing loved ones.
The five people who vanished at the hands of violent criminality are Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh, Robert Nairac, Seamus Maguire and Lisa Dorrian.
A veteran republican, 40-year-old Joe Lynskey was murdered in 1972 when an internal IRA feud erupted in Belfast.
In 2010, the paramilitary group issued a statement confirming he’d been killed and buried in an unmarked grave. Over the last couple of years, two lots of human remains found in a Co Monaghan cemetery were suspected of being his, but neither turned out to be the case.
From Donaghmore in Co Tyrone, 19-year-old Columba McVeigh was living in Dublin when he was abducted by the IRA on Halloween 1975.
Killed by the paramilitaries, who suspected him of acting as an informant to British security forces, he’s believed to have been secretly buried in Co Monaghan bogland. Despite repeated excavations of the suspected site, he has never been found.
Aged 28, Robert Nairac was an undercover British army officer abducted outside a Co Armagh pub at the foot of Slieve Gullion in 1977.
Transported to Co Louth, he was beaten and shot by the IRA; despite multiple searches, his remains have never been found.
Seamus Maguire (29), was formally recognised as one of the Disappeared in 2022. The 29-year-old was last seen leaving his home in Co Antrim village Aghagallon sometime between 1973 and 1974, although later investigations indicate he may have been killed in 1976 after returning from Manchester.
His death is believed to have been carried out by republican paramilitaries, though the specific IRA faction involved has not been named and no burial site has yet been identified.
Bangor 25-year-old Lisa Dorrian was last seen alive at a party in a Ballyhalbert caravan park in 2005.
Police have theorised that she was killed inside the caravan where the party took place, with the perpetrator then calling another individual to transport her body to be secretly buried.
Although she isn’t one of the 17 people authorities formally hold to be among the Disappeared, she’s recognised as such by victims groups WAVE Trauma Centre, which organises the annual Stormont walk.
Columba McVeigh’s sister Dympna has travelled from her home in England to be with the other families today.
She said: “As long as I am able, I’ll walk with those whose support over so many difficult years has meant more to me and our family than I can say. We’ll not rest until all of the Disappeared are found and returned home.
“There are people who have the information. Please look into your hearts and do what you know is right to bring an end to our suffering.”
Probes have so far uncovered the remains of 13 members of the Disappeared.