Search to start in remote area of border region for 'disappeared' soldier Robert Nairac

Robert Nairac in his Grenadier Guards uniform. The British army officer is believed to have been killed by the IRA. Picture: Alan Lewis

A search is set to start in a remote area of the border region for ‘disappeared’ soldier Robert Nairac.

The British army officer is believed to have been abducted by the Provisional IRA while on an undercover operation in a pub in south Armagh in 1977 and taken across the border to Flurry Bridge in Co Louth where he was killed.

The remains of the Grenadier Guards captain have never been found.

Capt Nairac is considered to be part of a group of 16 people, known as the Disappeared, who were killed and secretly buried by paramilitary groups.

In 2019, a preliminary examination of a site at Ravensdale Forest in Co Louth was carried out.

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR), which has located the remains of a number of the Disappeared, said it will be its first search for Capt Nairac.

It is to take place in the Faughart area, also in Co Louth.

Jon Hill, lead investigator of the ICLVR, said while Capt Nairac is one of the highest profile of the Disappeared, they have had “very little to go on”.

“We believe that we do now have sufficient credible information to warrant a search,” he said.

He said the search will differ in a number of ways from the organisation’s last search which was for Co Tyrone teenager Columba McVeigh at Bragan Bog in Co Monaghan.

The search for Capt Nairac will be carried out on private land, and Mr Hill said he wanted to make it clear that neither the landowner nor the tenant have any connection with the decision to search that location.

“The area itself is relatively small, less than one acre, and farmland is inherently more stable than the bogland we have had to work on in other searches for the Disappeared,” he said.

“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.”

The search, on a site that is part of an area of significant archaeological interest, is being supported by Ireland’s National Monuments Service.

The IRA Disappeared: Top, left to right: John McClory, Brian McKinney, Éamon Molloy, Jean McConville, and Danny McIlhone. Their bodies were recovered in the Republic. Centre: Charlie Armstrong, Columba McVeigh, Brendan Megraw, Séamus Ruddy, and Peter Wilson. Bottom: Kevin McKee, Gerard Evans, and Robert Nairac.

“We are grateful for the support and cooperation 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,” he said.

“Given that we may uncover archaeology or even historic remains, we have taken additional measures to cater for that eventuality and so we don’t anticipate that causing any insurmountable issues with our search.”

Mr Hill said the search will continue until they have found the remains or are satisfied there is nothing there to find.

“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 said.

“The Nairac family have been told that a search is about to commence and we will of course keep them informed of any developments.”

He added: “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, but what I can say is that if they are there we have the skills, ability, and experience to find them.”