An expert in forensic investigations, who assisted in the searches for the victims of the Moors murders, is due to be appointed to work with the Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains in the coming days, according to reliable sources.
It is hoped the expert will have direct access to the IRA members involved in the abduction and murder of the so-called "disappeared" during the Troubles. The British and Irish governments have been made aware of this development and an announcement is due this week, the sources confirmed yesterday.
A spokesman for the commission said it was "in the process of recruiting the expert", and "we are hopeful he will be given direct access to the sources of information".
In 1999 the IRA gave the locations of the graves of nine of the disappeared buried throughout the Republic. The most high-profile was Jean McConville (37), the Belfast mother of 10 taken from her home in 1972. Her body was found on a Co Louth beach by accident two years ago. Her son-in-law, Seamus McKendry, founder member of the Families of the Disappeared, which is still campaigning for the return of the bodies of victims, said he warmly welcomed the expected announcement.
Sources said that the expert had worked in the Moors murders investigation. It is understood he will be allowed direct access to sources of information, including the IRA, and that the IRA is willing to assist in his work.
To ensure this is done without risk of prosecution to either the sources of information or himself, the expert will be made an agent of the commission and as such will be immune from prosecution.
He will not be obliged to reveal the identity of anybody he speaks to. His identity will not be publicised so that anyone he meets can be confident that they, too, will remain anonymous.
The request to appoint such an expert was made to the commission by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and Northern Secretary Peter Hain in June. They also asked the commission to review its work to date and evaluate the chances of locating the graves.
The agent will also be fully briefed on An Garda's techniques and will decide if future searches, much of it on bogland that has changed in the intervening years, would yield results.
Mr McKendry said it was vital that the expert be allowed deal directly with the IRA and anyone else who could help, rather than with intermediaries. "It is also vital that he be allowed assist in the search for Lisa Dorrian," he said.
Ms Dorrian (25) went missing after attending a party in a caravan park in Ballyhalbert in Co Down on February 28th. Loyalist paramilitaries are being blamed for her suspected murder.
Her body has not been found. Initially, it was said that Ms Dorrian's disappearance would not be part of the expert's investigations, but the two government subsequently said they had no objection to her inclusion.