DNA and other tests are being carried out on an incomplete set of human remains discovered last week on a Wicklow hillside.
The discovery is being linked with the abduction, killing and secret burial in 1981 of a young west Belfast man.
The IRA admitted in a statement in 1999 that 18 years earlier it had taken and questioned Daniel McIlhone, who is now referred to as one of the so-called Disappeared.
A spokesman for the Independent Commission on the Location of Victims’ Remains, the cross-Border body tasked with finding the disappeared, said tonight: “Partial human remains have been recovered by a team working on behalf of the independent commission.... which is currently ongoing at the site in Co Wicklow.”
The Irish Timeswas told that a search party working for the commission made the discovery on Saturday in the
Ballynultagh area of the county. However it was not immediately obvious that the find comprised human remains.
A series of digs have been carried out for more than two years as part of the search for Mr McIlhone. Two unsuccessful searches in the general area have already been made.
A review of the searches was ordered by the Irish and British governments in 2005 and the specialist services of a forensic expert were called in.
The McIlhone family have been informed of the discovery despite the lack of a firm identification. It is understood their co-operation could be needed to help establish if the remains are indeed those of the missing man.
DNA tests could take up to six weeks to provide a conclusive identification. Other attempts at identifying the remains are also being made.
The IRA statement released in 1999 does not refer to Mr McIlhone as an informer. However it does say he was taken for questioning by its members over a case of alleged arms theft. It was also claimed he died in a struggle with the person or persons holding him.
The commission tasked with locating the remains of the nine disappeared people was established in 1999 in the wake of the Belfast Agreement as part of an effort to provide “closure” to their families.
Four bodies have been discovered and returned to their families for burial.