The latest search for the remains of teenager Columba McVeigh is moving towards its final phase.
The 19-year-old from Donaghmore in Co Tryone was abducted, shot and secretly buried by the IRA in November 1975.
This is the sixth dig at Bragan Bog near Emyvale, Co Monaghan and it began last October.
A delegation of members from the Oireachtas Committee for the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement have visited the Co Monaghan bog where his remains are believed to be buried.
The search is being carried out by investigators from the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR).
The ICLVR has recovered the remains of 13 people who were murdered and secretly buried since it was established by the Irish and British governments in 1999.
Four of 17 people classified as the Disappeared remain missing.
Members of the Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement were invited by the McVeigh family to see the site and witness the painstaking work of investigators for themselves.
More than 20 acres of the bog have been excavated over several years.
This latest phase has focused on two acres and will likely extend to three acres by the time it is finished.
Members of Columba McVeigh’s family met the delegation from Leinster House at the bog today.
His sister Dympna Kerr again appealed for anyone with information to come forward so her brother’s remains can be returned to the family after all this time.
She said that the family want to give Columba a funeral mass and bury him in the grave beside their parents.
Ms Kerr appealed to anyone with information about where Columba McVeigh's remains are located to make it availabe to the Commission.
She said that this information cannot be used for any other purpose other than he recovery of the remains.
"Everyone deals with death. But we’re not just dealing with a death. We’re dealing with a body buried out in that bog. And he’s still there. So something with the information isn’t right," Ms Kerr said.
She complimented the work of the expert team who are carefully excavating for her brother’s remains.
Cathaoirleach of the Oireachtas Committee Fergus O’Dowd said the delegation was visiting in solidarity with the McVeigh family and all the families of "the disappeared".
"It’s 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement and it’s 48 years since a young Columba McVeigh was brought here and murdered by the IRA. It’s time for his body to be brought home to rest with his relatives," he said.
Deputy O’Dowd said that the team of experts are doing a fantastic job but it is very important that they get more information.
"Time is short, people are getting older, and there are other bodies to recover also, four disappeared who have not been found," he added.
Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile said it was important for the committee to visit the bog and meet the family.
He said it was the universal appeal from all members of the committee, to urge anyone with information to bring it forward to the ICLVR "without hesitation and qualification".
Jon Hill, lead investigtaor of the ICLVR has been involved in eight cases where remains of the Disappeared have been recovered.
He said recovering remains is possible and achievable, but there has to be a degree of patience to the work.
"We aren't going to rush," he said.
Outlining the scale of this particular dig, Mr Hill said that the team would only search what needs to be searched and will "take as long as we need to take".
"It’s so terribly important that we get it right. We have all the right technology and the right staff to do it. We have to give ourselves the best shot at it".
Mr Hill said he has always believed that Columba McVeigh is in Bragan Bog.
"What I can’t say, is exactly where," he said.
Mr Hill said he believed that information they received about this was given in good faith, but may not be as accurate as they would like, but given the passage of time, that was understandable.
He said that Bragan Bog was chosen as the location "for its anonymity".
He urged anyone with more information to come forward to the commission and that all the systems are in place for confidentiality and anonymity for anyone who does have information.
Mr Hill said there is about another acre to go in this phase of the search, which would bring them into a wooded area.
He said that some trees will have to be removed to facilitate this, but the bad weather has hampered their plans.
The investigator said that the bad weather, and the fact that some of the ground had been searched before makes for difficult conditions.
"What was reasonably stable ground is now very unstable and as soon as the rain comes, it’s borderline dangerous but most certainly far too difficult for the work we are doing".
