Today, as families across Ireland mark All Souls’ Day by remembering their dead, a small group of relatives will walk in silence up the long avenue at Stormont. They are the families of the Disappeared, and for most of them the wait for a grave to visit has lasted for decades.
The All Souls Silent Walk for the Disappeared, now in its 20th year, sees families walk from Carson’s Statue to the steps of Parliament Buildings, where they lay a black wreath holding five white lilies. Each lily stands for one person whose remains have never been found.
Who are the Disappeared?
The Disappeared is the name given to people who were abducted, killed and secretly buried during the Troubles, leaving their families without a body to mourn. In total, 17 people were officially designated as Disappeared, and the remains of 13 have been recovered, according to RTÉ.
The five people the families remember today are Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh, Robert Nairac, Seamus Maguire and Lisa Dorrian.
Lisa Dorrian’s case is different. She went missing in 2005, after the Good Friday Agreement, which places her outside the remit of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR). That body deals only with cases from before 10 April 1998. The Wave Trauma Centre, which organises the walk, includes her among the Disappeared all the same. That leaves four cases still open with the ICLVR.
A process that has worked
Wave has stood alongside the Families of the Disappeared since 1995. Its chief executive, Dr Sandra Peake, has pointed to the commission’s track record as a reason for hope. “There is a process in place through the ICLVR that has worked,” she said, according to RTÉ, adding that every successful search has brought hope to the families still waiting.
The commission is currently searching for Seamus Maguire at Derryclone, near Lurgan in Co Armagh. The most recent search for Columba McVeigh, at Bragan Bog in Co Monaghan, ended without success just over a year ago.
Columba’s sister, Dympna McVeigh, is travelling from England to take part in today’s walk. She has said, according to RTÉ, that there are people who hold the information the ICLVR needs to finish its work, a message the families have repeated year after year.
Father Joe Gormley is due to lead prayers, family members will speak, and the ICLVR’s commissioner, Rosalie Flanagan, is expected to attend alongside its lead investigator, Eamonn Henry.
Why this day matters
For most Irish families, All Souls’ Day is a gentle ritual: a Mass, a visit to the graveyard, a few flowers on a headstone. That simple act is exactly what the families of the five still missing have been denied. The silent walk, held on the same day each year, turns that absence into something visible, and keeps the names of the missing in public view at the seat of Northern Ireland’s government.
The ICLVR was set up jointly by the Irish and British governments, and information given to it cannot be used in criminal proceedings, a guarantee designed to encourage those with knowledge to come forward. Its successes over the years show that, even decades later, one piece of information can bring someone home.
What happens next
The search at Derryclone for Seamus Maguire continues. Anyone with information about the four outstanding ICLVR cases is asked to contact the commission directly. Anyone with information about Lisa Dorrian is asked to contact the PSNI on 101 or to call Crimestoppers anonymously.
For the families walking at Stormont today, the hope is simple: that next year, there will be fewer lilies on the wreath.
Sources
- RTÉ News: Families of ‘The Disappeared’ to commemorate loved ones (2 November 2026)
- Brit Brief: Renewed plea for five Disappeared still missing in Northern Ireland (1 November 2026)
Featured image: Parliament Buildings, Stormont – geograph.org.uk – 6612839 by Gerald England, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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