'Disappeared' IRA murder victim finally laid to rest

The family of a teenager murdered and secretly buried by the IRA almost 30 years ago gathered for his funeral in Belfast today.

Danny McIlhone’s daughter, granddaughter and surviving brothers and sisters finally got the chance to lay him to rest after his remains were found on a remote hillside in Co Wicklow.

The 19-year-old was one of the so-called Disappeared who were abducted and killed by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles.

At Requiem Mass at St Teresa’s Church only yards from the McIlhone family home Father Darach MacGiolla Cathain said it was a day of mixed emotions.

“There is the obvious sadness each of us experience when we lay our loved ones to rest,” he said.

“Yet there is also a very real sense of thankfulness that, after a wait of over 27 years, we can at last give his body the dignity of a Christian burial.”

Mr McIlhone vanished in 1981. Almost two decades later the IRA finally admitted they had killed him, but despite several searches in 1999 and 2000 his body was never found.

Last month forensic investigators finally found partial remains in an isolated mountain area of Co Wicklow. On Friday a coroner in Dublin confirmed DNA testing proved they belonged to the missing teenager.

Ahead of the service Mr McIlhone's brothers and sisters had carried his coffin from the family home at Bearnagh Drive all the way to the church.

Among more than 500 mourners following the cortege were a number of senior republicans, including former IRA leading figure Bobby Storey and Sinn Féin Assembly member Paul Maskey.

During the hour-long Requiem Mass, Father MacGiolla Cathain paid tribute to the family’s determination to find their loved one.

“You never gave up hope when people told you there wasn’t any,” he said.

“You never backed down when people said you were wasting your time. You never grew tired of waiting when people said there was no point waiting.

“Today is your reward, today is your answer and the result of your faithfulness and persistence. Today is your vindication.”

He said every Christian family should have the right to bury their loved one.

“You will now have a cemetery to visit,” he told them. “A place to lay your flowers, a grave to stand and pray. This was the deepest longing among the family, to have him back, to be able to bury him.”

The priest also used the occasion to plead for anyone with information about the other Disappeared victims to come forward and end their families’ suffering too.

“Today we remember those families whose loved ones have still to be given the dignity of a Christian burial and we ask that God would sustain them as they continue to wait, with hope and dignity.”

Seven people killed by republicans in the 1970s and 1980s have still to be found.

Mr McIlhone’s daughter Sarah and his twin John were joined at the service by other family members.

His funeral was held only weeks after his brother Harry died in Canada. Mr McIlhone will be laid to rest beside his late parents, Dan and Lily, in the nearby Milltown cemetery.