Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh has reiterated his ongoing call for action to finally retrieve the remains of Northern Ireland’s last few “Disappeared”: four men killed by the IRA during the Troubles, whose bodies have never been found.
The Catholic Church in Northern Ireland recalls these men each year at a special Mass, which is designed both to bring spiritual consolation to the loved ones of the ‘Disappeared’ and to raise awareness among the generations who have grown up since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement – a generation unaware of what it was like to live through violence from the 1960s to the 1990s which cost more than 3,700 lives with up to 100,000 injured in Northern Ireland.
The men include British Army Captain Robert Nairac, who was abducted and murdered by the IRA in County Armagh in May 1977; Joseph Lynskey, a former Cistercian monk from west Belfast who went missing during the summer of 1972; Columba McVeigh from Donaghmore in County Tyrone who was 19 years old when he was abducted and murdered in October 1975; and Seamus Maguire, who went missing from Lurgan in County Armagh near the end of 1973.
Nairac’s disappearance and the IRA’s cruel obstinance that meant his body was never returned to his family for a Christian burial despite continued appeals became one of the most infamous cases of Northern Ireland’s ‘Disappeared’. Described by those who worked with him as a “committed Roman Catholic” and having a “strong Catholic belief”, as a boy Nairac attended the Catholic preparatory school Gilling Castle, the feeder school for Ampleforth College that he then attended. Nairac went on to read medieval and military history at Oxford University.
Following Nairac’s abduction, torture and murder by the IRA, it emerged that Nairac didn’t reveal any information to his captors all the way up to when a bullet was fired into his head. Reportedly, one of those involved in his abduction and interrogation impersonated a Catholic priest to try and trick Nairac into beginning his last confession as he veered in an out of consciousness – that individual apparently never got over his involvement with the murder of the young officer and was plagued by guilt and depression for the rest of his life.
The bodies of 13 other victims have been recovered, including mother-of-ten Jean McConville.
Archbishop Martin told the congregation at the Mass that he commended the recent Kenova report, which highlighted the failure to properly acknowledge the hurt inflicted on families and a lack of disclosure about murder that wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere else.
Dr Martin added: “Meeting like this, every year, highlights and renews the importance of addressing fully and properly the legacy of our troubled past, and making it clear that we cannot accept the simplistic idea of ‘drawing the line’ under our past.”
This May will mark the 25th anniversary of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR), established by the Irish and British governments to find the bodies of 17 people murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles.
“The work of the ICLVR down the years is one of the positive outcomes of the Belfast Good Friday agreement,” Archbishop Martin said. “And we are grateful to all who have worked on or with the commission in the painstaking task of finding and returning the bodies of loved ones to their families for a proper Christian burial.”
Undoubtedly, there are those on all sides of the political equation who see the Troubles as ancient history. Sinn Féin’s rise to political prominence on both sides of Ireland’s border has benefited from this, attracting in particular the votes of a generation too young to remember the Troubles, and who often see the IRA as gallant freedom fighters.
Equally, the controversy over the UK government’s Legacy Bill – that offers a conditional amnesty to those accused of killings during the Troubles – would suggest that the British Government also wants to consign the Troubles to history, despite opposition to the bill from all parties in Northern Ireland.
Nonetheless, the Church’s focus on the Disappeared is a reminder that the tragedies of the Troubles still resonate painfully for many in Northern Ireland, who remain affected by grief and trauma. Northern Ireland continues to have the highest suicide rate and poorest mental health in the UK.
The archbishop told the families of the Disappeared that the report “makes it clear that families like yours and others who are coping with the legacy of our conflict simply cannot find peace or trust until the truth emerges, and your loss is properly acknowledged”.
Photo: Screenshot of photographic portrait of Captain Robert Nairac from UK National Portrait Gallery.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.