THE Good Friday Agreement might have been 20 years ago, but the legacy of the Troubles is never far away.
The long and determined search for the Disappeared is among the most vivid and tragic reminders of the past.
A total of 16 people are considered to have been 'disappeared', a term that barely captures the medieval horror of the practice of abducting people, murdering them - often after they were tortured - and secretly burying their remains.
This was the republican campaign at its most sordid.
The IRA has admitted responsibility for 13 victims and the INLA for one other. Two others have not been officially attributed.
The remains of 13 of the Disappeared have so far been recovered.
This has allowed their families to afford their loved ones the dignified burial denied to them for so long.
It has also helped bring the families some closure.
There will be fervent hope, therefore, that a fresh search for the remains of Columba McVeigh which began on Monday will be successful.
The 19-year-old from Donaghmore, Co Tyrone was abducted by the IRA on November 1 1975.
Poignantly, the new search started on the 21st anniversary of his father Paddy's death.
Information from republicans has in the past identified Bragan bog, a remote area near Emyvale in Co Monaghan, as the site where Mr McVeigh was buried.
The search is being conducted by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains, which was set up by the British and Irish governments in 1999.
It also facilitates the gathering of confidential information to help find the Disappeared.
Republicans have helped to further refine the search area - something which has been aided by the fact that the previous four excavations have left the bog looking much like it is thought to have appeared in 1975.
Jon Hill, the commission's senior investigator, said this meant an area measuring around 40m by 20m had been identified for the dig, which is expected to take two weeks.
"We are hopeful. We wouldn't be here if we weren't hopeful, but you can't raise expectations too high, too early," he said.
Columba McVeigh's brother Oliver said the family is, understandably, cautious about the prospects of the new search.
His sister Dympna Kerr said the lack of certainty tormented the family; this despair and loneliness is a shared experience of the families of the Disappeared.
"As every year passes, we ask 'for how much longer must this go on?" she said.
"I can only hope and pray the torment will end."
Many will join the McVeigh family in that prayer - and the hope that the other missing Disappeared, Joe Lynskey and Robert Nairac, are also returned to their families.
