New search to get underway for one of the Disappeared in Meath

PAUL MURPHY

A new search for the remains of Joe Lynskey, one of the Disappeared, is to get underway at Oristown in the next few days.

Preparatory work to clear a section of trees on the site has started this morning (Monday). A previous search for the remains of Joe Lynskey, who was abducted and murdered by the IRA in August 1972, carried out at Coghalstown in 2015, ended without success. During that search by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains the bodies of two more of the Disappeared – Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee – were found.

Lead Investigator for the ICLVR Geoff Knupfer said today: “As we do after every unsuccessful search we go back and review all the information that we have pulled together to see if there are other lines of inquiry to be pursued. That’s what we’ve done in this case and as a result we are going to look at quite a small area of woodland at Oristown near where we found Brendan Megraw in 2014. We will start as soon as the land is cleared of trees and our contractors and forensic archaeologists can get to work. We anticipate that this will not be a long search either way. The Lynskey family have been informed and they know only too well that there is no guarantee of success but we will continue to do everything we can.”

Of the 16 Disappeared, the remains of 13 have been recovered. The remaining three are Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh and Robert Nairac