A search is getting underway in County Louth today for the body of a British soldier who disappeared in 1977.
Robert Nariac is believed to have been abducted by the Provisional IRA while on an undercover operation in south Armagh.
The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains has approved plans to conduct the first search for his body since his disappearance. It's thought Robert was killed and buried somewhere in Louth. Speaking as the search was about to get underway today Jon Hill, the Lead Investigator of the ICLVR said:
“Robert Nairac is one of the highest profile Disappeared and yet his case is one in which we have had very little to go on. We believe that we do now have sufficient credible information to warrant a search. This search will differ in a number of respects from that recently completed —regrettably without success—for Columba McVeigh at Bragan Bog, Co Monaghan.
First of all it is being carried out on private land and the land owner and tenant farmer have asked us not to reveal its precise location for reasons of privacy which we fully understand and I hope that is respected particularly by the media as the search gets underway. I want to make it clear that neither the landowner nor the tenant have any connection whatsoever with our decision to search in this particular location. The area itself is relatively small, less than 1 acre, and farmland is inherently more stable than the bogland we have had to work on in other searches for the Disappeared. And so while the weather is always a factor we have to deal with I would hope that we will get a relatively clear run at this one”.
He went on to explain that the site was part of an area of significant archaeological interest. “We are grateful for the support and co-operation of the National Monuments Service who have an interest in the wider area in which the Hill of Faughart has been identified as a 14th century battle site. Given that, we may uncover archaeology or even historic remains
