The brother of IRA murder victim Brendan Megraw says this will be the first Christmas in 36 years that the family will know where he is.

Yesterday it was confirmed that human remains found in a drainage ditch on Oristown bog in Co Meath at the start of last month were his.

It was not until 1999 that the family was told Mr Megraw was one of the Disappeared and his body had been buried in bogland in Meath.

The area of bogland in Oristown had been examined on three other occasions in the search for Mr Megraw - the last time in 2010.

DNA tests conducted since the find have confirmed the body as that of Mr McGraw. The coroner for Dublin city has accepted this as evidence of identification.

Mr Megraw was abducted from Twinbrook in Belfast in 1978, and murdered by the IRA.

His wife, who was drugged during the kidnapping, was pregnant at the time of his disappearance.

Mr Megraw was one of the 17 murder victims who became known as the Disappeared, and was just 23 years old when he was abducted.

His brother Sean told Newstalk Breakfast that the discovery of his body is bittersweet.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald is appealing to anyone with information about any of the Disappeared to provide it to the group searching for the remaining bodies.

Ms Fitzgerald expressed sympathy to the Megraw family, and has assured the Commission of her, and the government's support for its work.