Archbishop Martin in plea for info on Disappeared

The Derry-born leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland has urged those with information on the missing victims of paramilitaries to help end the “agonising wait” faced by families.
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Archbishop Eamon Martin, speaking at the annual Mass for the Disappeared at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, acknowledged the “unanswered questions and unresolved pain” of loved ones whose relatives were abducted and murdered by republican and loyalist groups.

He also hailed the work of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains and the role it has played in helping recover the bodies of many of those abducted during the conflict.

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The families of the Disappeared, said Dr Martin, have faced “not only the trauma of sudden loss but also the added agony of not knowing where their loved ones are buried and why, and how they were taken.”

Archbishop Eamon MartinArchbishop Eamon Martin
Archbishop Eamon Martin

He added: “I appeal again to the conscience of anyone who can help with the cases of Lisa Dorrian, Joe Lynskey (who still hasn’t been found after 50 years), Seamus Maguire, Columba McVeigh and Robert Nairac to bring forward even the slightest clues, so that the agonising wait of you, their families and support persons, can be shortened, and those who remain hidden can at last have a Christian burial.”

The Archbishop added that the “legacy of suffering and unresolved grief” associated with the Troubles remained “unfinished business” and a stumbling block to lasting peace here.

He concluded: “There is still so much to be done to uncover the truth so that the full stories of what happened during the Troubles can be told; that the dead can rest peacefully in their graves; that the bereaved and injured can find justice and healing; that those who did wrong can make atonement, and, that a just and lasting foundation can be put in place for honest and shared future for us all on this island.”