The Irish and British governments are willing to provide funding for a forensic expert to help find the remains of five people murdered and buried by the IRA, the Minister for Justice said last night.
Speaking at a peace conference in Navan last night Mr Michael McDowell said the Victims Commission had been told that the resources would be found.
Mr McDowell did not name the expert likely to be involved but indicated a forensic expert had carried out similar work in the Moors murders case.
The appointment of such an expert had been sought by Sinn Féin to help locate the remains of IRA victims.
The remains of three victims were found in 1999, and that of Belfast woman Jean McConville was found in Co Louth in 2003.
The IRA said shortly after the Belfast Agreement that it had identified the graves of nine people it had murdered.