Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will come in for a short time. The committee will hear the bell in the background, so I apologise because I will have to go to the Chamber. When Columba McVeigh was killed in 1975, I was a young child growing up in Mayo. I heard the pain and distress when we went to the WAVE centre.

I thank Ms Peake for hosting us at the WAVE centre. That was a valuable discussion. We heard at first hand from the witnesses. I commend the witnesses and the work that they have done over the years. This is a good opportunity, albeit painful, for the witnesses to reach out again to ask once more. All the mechanisms are in place to resolve the situation regarding the three remains that have not yet been recovered. We must do everything that we can. Every individual at this meeting today will do that from here on. I know great efforts have been made over the years. I appeal to anybody who has information, however significant it might be, to bring it forward to the commission.

We heard from Ms Anne Morgan about the relief that meeting directly with members of the INLA and people who could give that information brought. That should prompt anyone who would deny that to one of the three families who are waiting to question him or herself. The witnesses are not asking for anybody to be prosecuted or for anything other than the remains of their loved ones. We all know how important funerals are. I was at two family funerals last weekend, in London and in Birmingham. To have to wait 50 years to bury your loved ones is not right. I think that everybody will come out of this meeting with a renewed focus on what we can all do, whether it is in Mayo, Cork, or any other part of the country, to try to bring some kind of relief to the three families who are still waiting. I hear what Ms Maria Lynskey said about her sister being 86 years old. Time is not on her side in this matter. I want to give the witnesses an opportunity to come back in. I thank them all for being here today and giving their contributions. We can never understand but meetings like this maybe help us to understand a little better than we do.