Information on remains of 8 IRA victims revealed

In a statement issued a few minutes ago, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains said it had received information about the remains of eight people. They are: Jean McConville, Kevin McKee, Seamus Wright, Columba McVeigh, Brendan Megraw, John McClory, Brian McKinney, and Danny McIlhone. The Commission said the families of the deceased have been informed and the information has been passed on to Gardaí, who are making arrangements to recover and identify the remains.

Gardaí are preparing to pinpoint and seal off areas in Louth, Meath, Monaghan and Wicklow. A Garda spokesman said that Templeton Beach Car Park in County Louth and rough terrain at Ballynulta five miles from Blessington in County Wicklow had already been sealed off. Members of the Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains are due to visit the Templeton Beach Car Park this evening. The group has been in contact with the IRA through intermediaries about the location of the bodies. Searches are expected to begin tomorrow.

The body of the first victim, Eamonn Molloy, was located yesterday and it had been expected that Gardaí would hear from the Commission this afternoon, and that they would then be taken to at least two of the secret burial sites. It is thought that as many as six graves may have been brought to the attention of the Commission.

Once the bodies are located, the remains will then be exhumed and brought to the City Morgue at Store Street in Dublin for medical examination before being handed over to relatives. The pace of the search has gathered momentum since the remains of one of the nine people killed and secretly buried, were located near County Louth yesterday. Republican sources say they have passed on information, relating to the location of the remains of the other eight missing.

Today, Sinn Fein's chairman, Mitchel McLaughlin, said that the return of the bodies should be welcomed, but without too much being read into the timing of the gesture. He told BBC Radio Ulster that Sinn Féin had consistently tried to resolve the issue, which he hoped would be dealt with as quickly as possible. The former Tánaiste and representative on the Commission for the Location of Victim's Remains, John Wilson, has said he is hopeful that the eight bodies will be found this weekend.