INVESTIGATORS ARE EXAMINING if remains found in a grave in County Monaghan are those of Joe Lynskey one of the disappeared murdered by the IRA during The Troubles. 

Lynskey was a former Cistercian monk from the Beechmount area of west Belfast. He went missing during the summer of 1972 and his remains have never been recovered.

The IRA took responsibility for his death in 2010 with a spokesperson stating that he was killed and buried in an unmarked grave. Today’s discovery, if determined to be Lynskey, would contradict that statement.  

It is understood that the remains found in the exhumation were not the only skeletal remains in the grave.

He was also a member of the IRA but fell foul of the organisation in the early 1970s and was abducted and murdered by the organisation. 

His murder was featured heavily in the new TV series Say Nothing about the activities of the IRA in Belfast during The Troubles. 

Investigators are examining if the remains found in the grave are those of Lynskey.

In a statement tonight the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) went to a grave in Annyalla cemetery in County Monaghan and carried out a dig.

They had received information about “suspicious historic activity during the 1970s at a grave there”. 

“Both the time frame and the location coincide with the disappearance of Joe Lynskey in 1972.

“The ICLVR did not become aware that Joe Lynskey was one of the Disappeared until 2010.

“Following an exhumation there will be a formal process to establish the identity of all of the remains found in the grave. This process may take some time,” a spokesman said. 

To date the remains of 13 of the disappeared have been recovered by investigators. 

The ICLVR has not yet found the location of the bodies of Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh, Robert Nairac and Seamus Maguire.