Ms Sandra Peake:

On behalf of all of us, I thank the committee. We have appreciated the opportunity to appear it.

It has been deeply painful. I am conscious that Michael McConville's mum's anniversary has just passed. She was taken 49 years ago. I always want to remember those who have walked along the way and journeyed, yet are no longer with us. It was a sad day burying Patsy McAteer recently and burying Archie McConville before that. Archie always carried what happened to his mum with him right to the very end.

There are a number of things. Whatever the committee can do for publicity, we ask members please do not forget the families of the disappeared and please let this have a legacy beyond today. It has been very painful for families to come to the meeting. Members will have other priorities, hear other cases and have other constituency issues matters of government to deal with but this needs to be addressed for these families. This is their legacy and there is no peace until we give those families what they rightfully need.

Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh, Robert Nairac and Lisa Dorrian all need to be returned to their families. Any other families out there who believe their loved ones have been disappeared also need to have a mechanism to bring that forward and to highlight it.

We need help locally from members. I urge anybody who can to help us to do so in their area, such as Senator McGahon with Robert Nairac, Deputy Tóibín in Meath and Deputy Brendan Smith and whoever else in Monaghan. They might not realise that what they have is significant, but it could be very significant for the commission.

We urge Sinn Féin to please go back to the start and look at these cases and reassess them. This needs to be addressed. We have shown that with additional pressure from the families and additional work, we can recover bodies. The commission has demonstrated that its work only works because the information comes to it. It is important to acknowledge the information that has come to date.

Disappearing people is the cruellest of acts. I buried my own father. I know where he is. We can mark and honour his place of burial. These families do not have that. Members might not know that the mothers put their sons names on the headstones before they died, handing the responsibility to the next generation. Anne Morgan's mother put Seamus's name on the headstone. Vera McVeigh did the same. The same was done for Joe Lynskey. Brendan Megraw's mother did the same. That is very powerful. Imagine having a headstone with a name on it and no body in the grave. These families need the bodies to be returned.

People are getting older and it is getting harder. Those with information are getting older and it is getting harder. We need a push on this now, not to come back in a year's time to say we have made no progress. We need help. As the circle is getting smaller, it is becoming harder for the families to wait. Oliver McVeigh always says that. He says that when they were part of a bigger group and lots of people were disappeared, somehow it was a bit easier but as the circle has got smaller, the families are asking if they are going to be the only people not to have their loved ones returned. That has become very hard. That is said within the solidarity of support that is provided by WAVE and through the families of the disappeared, who are an amazingly supportive group. I urge members to do everything they can in terms of publicity and policy to help the families and to not forget about them.

Regarding the injured pension, the legacy for the injured is to be looked after with dignity in their older age and to have respect and dignity. I urge members to please move that forward to ensure equity. I ask members to continue to push on the issue of legacy because that is hurting families. It is painful. Families are distraught at the thought of what may come. I urge committee members to do anything they can, individually and collectively, and to please continue to do it.

Members are welcome to come to WAVE at any time. The families wear a little badge, which is a little forget-me-not designed by Anne Morgan. I will send some of them to the committee and when they are next in, I would ask them to wear the badges in solidarity with the families and in remembrance of them. People will ask what they are and then that allows us to open up the discussion and to ensure this is not forgotten.