It is part of a dedicated response to a series of events aimed at recovering the body of missing IRA man Joe Lynskey, who disappeared from his west Belfast home more than 50 years ago.
Six weeks ago, experts acting on behalf of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) oversaw the multiple exhumation of remains from a family grave in a remote churchyard near Clontibret, Co. Monaghan.
Five of the six deceased were later revealed to be close relatives of the former Bishop of Ferns, Brendan Comiskey. The removed remains included those of his parents Clare and Patrick and his brothers Sean, Edmund and Maurice.
And the Sunday World later revealed that 75-year-old Clare Comiskey had died on November 9, 1972 as a result of a tragic early morning fire at her farmhouse home at Tasson, outside Clontibret.
When her elderly husband Patrick left to get help from neighbours, Mrs Comiskey re-entered the burning property in an effort to retrieve valuables. But she was overcome by smoke and her charred remains were recovered by firefighters the following day.
From a family of 10, Bishop Comiskey – who was a priest at the time of the tragic death of his mother – is the only member of his immediate family still alive.
News of the multiple-body removal at Annyalla Cemetery six weeks ago stunned the local Catholic community.
But it later emerged that permission had personally been granted by the long-retired Bishop Comiskey.
The one-time senior clergyman – who will be 90 on his next birthday – is known to be gravely ill.
And he was known to be keen to see the ‘unidentified body’ mystery being resolved as soon as possible.
However, the remains of a sixth person, suspected of being those of Joe Lynksey, which were also reportedly removed from the Comiskey family plot, have yet to be formally identified.
But the Sunday World has learned that a few days ago that the remains of all of the Comiskey family removed from the grave in St Michael’s churchyard were formally identified and re-interred.
Yesterday, a Sunday World source – known to be extremely close to the Comiskey family – said everyone connected to the family was delighted at the way the delicate situation was handled by the ICLVR.
He said: “We are delighted things are going according to plan. The new year has brought us a new start and our family grave is once more intact.
“Our only hope now is for the Lynskey family to find the same peace we are enjoying today. It is only right that a family has a place to remember their loved one.”
He added: “We are all praying this can happen in the near future.”
And as our exclusive pictures show, heavy metal gates protecting the integrity of the grave have now been removed.
The grave has a fresh covering of topsoil and five floral arrangements – each representing a Comiskey family member – have been placed on top.
A veteran republican source based in Monaghan town told the Sunday World that the sixth and as yet unidentified remains are that of Lynskey.
A former Cistercian monk from Harrowgate Street off the Falls Road, Lynskey was a well known and popular person in that part of Catholic west Belfast.
As a young man he had joined the IRA and had been involved in its so-called ‘Border Campaign’ from 1956-62.
And shortly after the outbreak of the Troubles in August 1969, he joined the newly formed Provisional IRA. As a result of his previous paramilitary experience, Lynskey was appointed Intelligence Officer and he was responsible for vetting new recruits.
But it is understood that he very soon became infatuated with the wife of one of his IRA subordinates after the pair began an affair.
And in an attempt at getting rid of the woman’s husband, Lynskey ordered an IRA volunteer to shoot him dead on his own doorstep.
But the murder bid was botched when the victim was only slightly wounded. He managed to make his way to the home of a senior IRA man, telling him Lynskey had ordered his shooting.
When asked for an explanation, Lynskey claimed the man had been shot by the rival Official IRA.
And within minutes, the Provos ordered an armed unit to wreak immediate and revenge. The hit team burst into a drinking shebeen and shot a senior Official IRA member dead.
The incident nearly sparked a republican feud and when the full truth emerged, the IRA ordered Lynskey to face a court martial.
In early 1972, an IRA kangaroo court sentenced Lynskey to death. And Provo bomber Delours Price – a member of a secret IRA unit known as ‘The Unknowns’ – was ordered to drive him across the border and into the hands of an IRA unit from Monaghan.
The incident was reproduced recently in the Disney+ TV series Say Nothing.
For months, Lynskey lived in the home of the relatives of IRA legend Fergal O’Hanlon, who was shot dead in an attack on Brookborough RUC Barracks in Fermanagh on New Year’s Day 1957.
Lynskey spent his evenings eating home-made bread and drinking tea while the IRA decided the best way to carry out his death sentence.
The opportunity to ‘disappear’ Lynskey’s body presented itself on November 6, 1972, with Mrs Comiskey’s tragic death.
As the community prepared itself for the elderly woman’s funeral, the IRA brought Lynskey to the open grave that had been prepared for Mrs Comiskey.
Republican sources told us devout Lynskey did a deal with his captors that his body would be buried in concentrated ground.
He was ordered to kneel on the ground. As he said the Rosary, an IRA man – who had come all the way from Belfast – stepped forward and shot him dead.
Lynskey’s lifeless body was placed into the grave and covered with soil. It remained there for over 50 years until late last year, when the ICLVR requested Bishop Brendan Comiskey’s permission to reopen the family grave.
Joe Lynskey was the first of 16 individuals ‘disappeared’ by the IRA, as well as one by the INLA.
It is expected the ICLVC could release a statement on the Joe Lynskey investigation within a matter of days.