Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses here today to discuss this very difficult subject. The setting up of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains has been one aspect of the Good Friday Agreement that is working in a lot of ways with a difficult task.

I attended Kevin McKee's funeral in St. Peter's in Belfast, in a personal capacity. It brought back the awfulness of the tragedy of his murder and the secret burial which left his family grieving for many years. That he was buried with his mother in Lisburn many years later brought back that fact that this young man was 17 years of age when he was abducted with Seamus Wright who was 25. Across the Border we found it very difficult to comprehend these unfortunate times.

Three victims' remains have not yet been found, namely, those of Joseph Lynskey, Columba McVeigh and Robert Nairac. Can Mr. Knupfer tell the committee if there is a reluctance, a selectivity, a hierarchy, a cunning or a disrespect involved in the fact that Robert Nairac was from a British army tradition? Is this why information is not coming forward about him? I watched the "Prime Time Investigates" interview with Robert Nairac's friend Fr. William Burke. The victim was a British soldier, but he was a Catholic and he deserves a funeral. He deserves that respect.

People speak about parity of esteem but there must be parity of esteem for these victims. I understand there has been great co-operation but once again I appeal to anybody out there with information. Robert Nairac came from a British army tradition but, should information be forthcoming, he must be treated the same as all the other unfortunate victims who are the disappeared. Is the commission saying that information is not coming forward from some quarters?