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Saturday, September 4, 1999 Published at 18:27 GMT 19:27 UK


UK: Northern Ireland

Bishop's plea to politicians

Funeral of Brian McKinney takes place in Belfast

A Catholic bishop has called on politicians to reach a final solution to conflict without what he called "fatuous posturing and empty point scoring."

The Bishop of Down and Connor Dr Patrick Walsh was speaking at the funeral of Brian McKinney in west Belfast, who was buried on Saturday 21 years after he was abducted and murdered by the IRA.

The Search for Peace
Dr Walsh said the coming weeks of talks must be met with leadership and responsibility.

He said: "This past week has in a sense almost encapsulated all the foul wickedness experienced in the community and the anguish visited upon so many families over all these sad and tragic years."

He urged politicians in Northern Ireland to work towards a solution in the coming weeks without what he called "fatuous posturing or empty point-scoring".


BBC NI's Maggie Swarbick: "The second funeral in as many days"
"It is time for the exercise of responsibility, for the exercise of leadership with courage and intergrity."

Dr Walsh also appealed for anyone withholding information on the Disappeared to reveal it.

Mr McKinney's body was discovered in June after the IRA indicated where they had buried him. He was 23 when he was abducted.


[ image: Brian McKinney was abducted from west Belfast in 1978]
Brian McKinney was abducted from west Belfast in 1978
His remains were found in a shallow grave in Colgagh Bog at Cullaville, County Monaghan on 29 June along with the remains of his friend, John McClory, 18.

John McClory's funeral was held on Friday. Several hundred people attended his funeral in Belfast. The two men will be buried near each other in Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast.

The two are believed to have been abducted and murdered at the same time.

Their bodies were found together after information was passed by intermediaries for the IRA to the Commission for the Disappeared in the Irish Republic.

The alleged location of the remains of nine IRA victims killed in the 1970s and 1980s were given.

But only three bodies were found after extensive searches.

The first was that of Eamon Molloy and hope was raised that the remains of the others would quickly be found.


[ image: John McClory: Buried on Friday]
John McClory: Buried on Friday
But John McClory and Brian McKinney were the only other victims located after extra information was supplied on their burial sites.

The search for the remaining victims was called off in July but families remain hopeful that more exact information will be provided which will pinpoint where their relatives were buried by their killers.

'IRA has more details'

One of the families of the Disappeared believes that the IRA is on the verge of divulging new information, which will pinpoint the remains of its victims.

A member of the McConville family said he had been assured that new information will be forthcoming on the location of the remains of his mother-in-law, Jean McConville.


Seamus McKendry talks to BBC NI's Wendy Austin on his family's new hope
Seamus McKendry told BBC Northern Ireland that he was informed the IRA were embarrassed that initial information did not prove reliable.

"We've been assured in the past week or so that they have returned to the sites. Just how accurate their information is or whether they have been able to pinpoint areas we don't know," he said.

"The trouble is the Commission in the Republic for the return of the Disappeared has been in recess.

"They are only getting together at this moment so once they get through the paperwork and see what has come in so far that they will be able to enlighten us better."

Wounded soldier

Mrs McConville was abducted from her flat in west Belfast in the 1970s after assisting a British soldier wounded in an IRA ambush.

She was subsequently murdered by the IRA and her remains were buried in a site in the Republic of Ireland.

The search at the beach in County Louth where the remains were reputed to be buried was abandoned in July after several weeks fruitless digging.

The police in the Irish Republic said on Friday there were no imminent moves to reopen excavations at sites of the Disappeared.





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