Sinn Féin president Mary-Lou McDonald has urged anyone with information that could lead to the discovery of the remains of any of the Disappeared to bring it forward.
Ms McDonald was speaking after a media report that a Sinn Féin member had been named as having been involved in the disappearance of Co Tyrone teenager Columba McVeigh.
The Belfast Telegraph reported that a republican had named three men he said were involved in the IRA’s disappearance of Mr McVeigh, and that the man named as the “gravedigger” was a “Sinn Féin member well known in his local community”.
They also reported that this information had been given to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR).
The sixth search for Mr McVeigh, who was disappeared in 1975 at the age of 19, ended without success at Bragan Bog in Co Monaghan in 2023.
Some 17 people were murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles.
The ICLVR was set up by the UK and Irish governments during the peace process to investigate their whereabouts. Thirteen have been formally found.
Mr McVeigh, as well as former monk Joe Lynskey, British Army Captain Robert Nairac and Seamus Maguire, who was in his mid-20s and from near Lurgan, Co Armagh, remain missing.
Asked about the newspaper report in Belfast on Monday, Ms McDonald asked for anyone with information to bring it to the ICLVR.
“Let me again extend solidarity to the family of Columba McVeigh and others, the small number who still seek for the remains of their loved ones,” she said.
“There is a well-established channel now for all information to be brought forward to.
“Let me reiterate to everybody across society, if you have information, please bring it forward. Don’t second-guess yourself. Bringing information to the media is one thing, where this actually needs to go is to the commission so that it can be assessed, that it can be verified, and that it can be put to good use.
“Our party has said this many times, but I want to reiterate it today to those, anybody who has any information, however inconsequential it might seem to you, bring it forward.
“Every piece of information can potentially be a valuable piece of that puzzle, and I know the families wait desperately for more information and for those discoveries to be made.”
