Mother hopes 'disappeared' son will be found
The mother of a teenager abducted and murdered by the IRA more than 20 years ago said today she hoped renewed contacts between the IRA and the Government would lead to her son’s body being recovered.
Columba McVeigh, from Co Tyrone, was just 17 years old when he was snatched off a Dublin street 23 years ago.
His mother Vera said she hoped new information passed to the Government by republicans about where her son was buried would finally lead to him being returned to her.
She said that after her husband “died of a broken heart” six years ago, she had her son’s name put on the headstone of the grave as well.
“I go to the grave of his father but when I am there my first thought is ‘Where is Columba?’. It would be some comfort to know where he was,” she said.
“I have lovely thoughts of Columba. He was the greatest lad – a big child even if he was 17.”
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said the latest information passed on by the IRA following a review into the “disappeared” was a genuine attempt to help find the bodies and have them returned to their families.
He said the authorities should adopt a “more forensic approach” to searching for the bodies.
Mr Adams again backed the IRA’s assertions that it was not behind the disappearance in May this year of Armagh man Gareth O’Connor, who vanished while awaiting trial on a charge of belonging to a dissident republican group.
He has not been seen since leaving his home to drive into the Republic, where he had to report to gardaí as part of his bail terms.
Mr O’Connor’s father is convinced the IRA took his son and he has been supported by a leading Catholic churchman.
But Mr Adams said there had been “wild speculation” about Mr O’Connor and added: “The IRA have said they were not involved. Why on earth would it say it was not when it was?”
