 |
 |
 |
 |
| We hope that the women's remains found at Shelling Beach last week will bring closure to the trauma and suffering endured by the McConville family.
Over a month ago we passed on specific information in relation to the sites where the bodies of Jean McConville and Columba McVeigh were buried. This followed a complete review of all the information available to us. In the course of this review we revisited each case in detail. We have also previously called for anyone with information to come forward. In March 1999 the leadership of �glaigh na h�ireann revealed the outcome of an 18-month investigation to locate the graves of nine people executed and buried by the IRA in a period from 1972 to 1981. In initiating that investigation our intention was to do all within our power to redress injustices for which we accept full responsibility and to alleviate the suffering of the families, particularly those families who have been unable to bury or properly mourn their relatives. Many complicating factors both hampered and protracted that investigation, including the lapse of time, changes in leadership and deaths of members and former members of �glaigh na h�ireann. Despite all of this we reaffirm that the areas identified by us are the burial places of people killed by the IRA. There have been calls for us to provide information on other people who are missing at this time. As previously stated by us, we are not responsible for all those listed in the media as having gone missing over the past three decades. We are responsible only for those we acknowledge in our statement of March 1999. We are not involved in the recent disappearance of Gareth O'Connor from Armagh. Anyone with information about the case should make that information available to the O'Connor family." P O'Neill Irish Republican Publicity Bureau Dublin |
| IRA Statement 31 August 2003 |