Grave in Co Monaghan exhumed in search for Disappeared victim

A grave in Co Monaghan has been exhumed by experts searching for Disappeared victim of the Northern Ireland Troubles Joe Lynskey.

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) said a formal process would be undertaken to establish the identity of all the remains found in the grave in the village of Annyalla.

Mr Lynskey, a former monk from Belfast who later joined the IRA, was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1972.

The IRA only admitted his murder after details of his disappearance were revealed in The Irish News in December 2009.

The commission said it had received information related to “suspicious historic activity” during the 1970s at a grave in Annyalla cemetery.

“Both the time frame and the location coincide with the disappearance of Joe Lynskey in 1972,” the commission said in a statement.

The commission said the process of establishing the identity of the remains found in the grave “may take some time”.

Mr Lynskey was one of 17 people who were Disappeared by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles.

The commission was set up by the UK and Dublin governments during the peace process to investigate their whereabouts. Thirteen have been formally found.

As well as Mr Lynskey, the commission is also tasked with finding three other Disappeared victims – Co Tyrone teenager Columba McVeigh, British Army captain Robert Nairac, and Seamus Maguire, who was in his mid-20s and from near Lurgan, Co Armagh.