ICLVR find no trace in search for Nairac

The Irish Times has an article last week on the most mysterious and perhaps notorious of ‘the disappeared’ i.e. those people killed by the IRA during the troubles and buried surreptitiously:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/no-indication-robert-naira...

Unlike most of those catalogued whose bodies have now been found Nairac and a small group of others defy efforts of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR) to locate them.

As the Irish Times report details they have conclusively ruled out the site in Co Louth that it was been investigating saying:

“We were looking at quite a defined area at which the cadaver dogs had apparently given strong indications. We carried out a careful and painstaking archaeological examination.

“If the subsurface had been disturbed by a spade or any other device or implement cutting into it to bury remains we would have seen clear evidence of that.”

The ICLVR has also ruled out some of the more outlandish rumours surrounding the disappearance of Nairac stating:

“the commission was satisfied that rumours suggesting Capt Nairac’s body was put through a meat processor were “entirely without foundation”.

Nairac was part of the intelligence war waged by both sides in the early days of the troubles and he served with the infamous 4 Field Survey Troop Royal Engineers based at Castledillon in Co Armagh and which was a cover for intelligence operations. The period is well documented in two books:

War without Honour, by Fred Holryod with Nick Burbridge, Medium Publish Co., Hull, 1989.
Who Framed Colin Wallace? by Paul Foot, Pan Books, London, 1990.

(Holryod was an Army Intelligence Officer and Wallace a Civil Servant engaged in propaganda and psych-ops)

Celtic League looked into the activities of these bodies several years ago when we were gathering evidence on the murder of Co Louth forestry worker Seamus Ludlow. Despite several inquiries - including one judge led - his family still seek answers.

This link gives basic details on 4 Field Survey Troop at Wikispooks:

http://powerbase.info/index.php/4_Field_Survey_Troop

The unit has been alleged to have had knowledge of and even set up loyalist kilings in the boder arrea and the Republic including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Nairacs alleged involvement in this was recently disputed. Later on his final tour although still on intelligence work he was said not to have been attached to the ‘Special Recce Unit’ (SRU) as it was known when he disappeared. The disappearance is also a mystery as Nairac was acting alone whereas the SRU, its predecessor the MRF and SAS usually operated in four man teams in civilian clothes and vehicles and were heavily armed. (Link to Flagstaff Hill incident Wikipedia):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagstaff_hill_incident

The ICLVR continues it work to bring final closure to the relatives of ‘the disappeared’ but as time goes on its more luck than information that brings results. Many of the participants in these events are dead themselves now. Niaracs resting place remains a mystery as does his role in what came to be called the dirty war.

As for ‘4 Field Survey Troop’ both the Westminster and Dublin governments probably have material on their activities in the archives but it suits them both that this remains secret...for now.

Image: Members of the Military Reaction Force early 70s which proceeded the SRU - Inset - bottom right Capt Robert Nairac.

Bernard Moffatt

Celtic League
Assistant General Secretary