The search is to begin for the remains of the British Army officer who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the IRA in 1977 and whose body has never been recovered in all the time since.
The IRA has always refused to reveal what they did with the body of Robert Nairac, who was 28 years old and working undercover at the time of his abduction.
The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) has announced that it would be conducting its first search for Nairac, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/26/search-to-begin-for-remains-of-capt-robert-nairac-murdered-by-ira-in-1977"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">reports</mark></a> the <em>Guardian</em>.
“We believe that we do now have sufficient credible information to warrant a search,” says Jon Hill, the lead investigator of the ICLVR.
The ICLVR has previously located the remains of a number of the so-called “Disappeared”, a group of 17 people who were killed and secretly disposed of by the republican paramilitary group during Northern Ireland’s Troubles.
The mystery around what happened to Nairac following his kidnapping and subsequently to his body became one of the most infamous cases of the "Disappeared".
Hill has said that while Nairac was one of the highest profiles of those who disappeared, previously the ICLVR had “very little to go on” regarding his case.
It is unclear what new information has been passed on to the commission, but the <em>Guardian</em> notes that former paramilitary members can give details to the ICLVR without fear of legal consequences under the terms of legislation that was enacted in both the UK and Ireland when the body was set up.
The commission hasn't said where the search is taking place other than it will be on less than an acre of private farm land in the vicinity of the Hill of Faughart 14th-century battle site in the north of County Louth in Ireland, just below the border with Northern Ireland.
The news follows Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh in April this year reiterating his ongoing call for action to finally retrieve the remains of the final four men of the "Disappeared".
The Catholic Church in Northern Ireland has recalled these men each year at a special Mass, which is designed both to bring spiritual consolation to the loved ones of the "Disappeared" and to raise awareness among the generations who have grown up since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
The other men whose bodies have never been recovered are Joseph Lynskey, a former Cistercian monk from west Belfast who went missing during the summer of 1972; Columba McVeigh from Donaghmore in County Tyrone who was 19 years old when he was abducted and murdered in October 1975; and Seamus Maguire, who went missing from Lurgan in County Armagh near the end of 1973.<br><br>Nairac was described by those who worked with him as a “committed Roman Catholic” and having a “strong Catholic belief”. As a boy, he attended the Catholic preparatory school Gilling Castle, the feeder school for Ampleforth College that he then attended. Nairac went on to read medieval and military history at Oxford University.
Nairac’s disappearance and the IRA’s cruel obstinance meant that his body was never returned to his family for a Christian burial despite continued appeals. <br><br>The <em>Guardian</em> notes that his high-profile kidnapping and murder gave rise to all sorts of rumour and speculation including – falsely – that his remains were put through a meat grinder. <br><br>In 1979, Nairac was posthumously awarded the George Cross based on reports that during his interrogation and torture he refused to break and give any information away.<br><br>The violence that occurred in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s cost more than 3,700 lives, with up to 100,000 injured during the Troubles. <br><br>About the forthcoming search for Nairac by the ICLVR, Hill states that “we are not time-limited but given the relatively small area, by our standards, I do not anticipate a protracted search period of many months".
He added that the Nairac family has been told that a search is about to commence and will be kept informed of any developments.
“I am not going to put a number on the degree of confidence that we have that we will find the remains of Robert Nairac," Hill says. "But what I can say is that if they are there we have the skills, ability and experience to find them." <br><br><strong><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/let-them-finally-rest-in-peace-captain-robert-nairac-and-the-last-of-northern-irelands-disappeared/"><em><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">RELATED: Let them finally have a Christian burial: Captain Robert Nairac and last of the ‘Disappeared’ from Northern Ireland’s Troubles</mark></em></a></strong><br><br><em>Photo: Captain Robert Nairac; screenshot of detail from <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw89639/Robert-Laurence-Nairac?"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">UK National Portrait Gallery</mark></a>.</em>
