The authorities are expected to begin before the end of May exhuming the bodies of nine people killed and secretly buried by the IRA more than 20 years ago, it emerged last night.
Legislation prohibiting the use of any evidence found during such exhumations for criminal prosecutions will be published today and is likely to pass all stages in the Dail within a fortnight. Similar legislation is to be introduced in the House of Commons.
While the British bill may be introduced a week later than the Irish one, the legislation will be enacted in both jurisdictions on the same date in the middle of next month.
Government sources expect that information on the locations of the bodies will be provided very quickly after the legislation is enacted, and that the exhumations will then begin without delay. It is not known, however, whether exhumation of all nine will be possible as construction and other developments may make the task impossible in some cases.
The former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, is to be appointed to the new Independent Com mission for the Location of Victims' Remains. An agreement establishing the commission was signed in Dublin yesterday by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, and the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam.
The commission is designed to allow the IRA to reveal where the bodies are buried without running the risk of prosecution of its members. Last month, the IRA said that it knew where the graves of nine people which it separately abducted, killed and secretly buried during the 1970s were located, but it refused to reveal the locations of the graves until its members were given an amnesty in relation to the killings.
While the new legislation will specify that evidence gathered during the exhumation process cannot be used for criminal prosecutions, it will not provide a blanket amnesty. Evidence uncovered through other means - however unlikely after such a lapse of time - could be used in a prosecution.
The new commission is to have at least two members, to be appointed jointly by both governments. It will be empowered to receive information in confidence from the IRA as to where the bodies are buried and to reveal these locations to the authorities to allow arrangements to be made for exhumations, where possible.
It can provide information to relatives of those killed by the IRA where appropriate, and must report to both governments within a year.
No decision has been made on whether a third or fourth commission member will be appointed, but informed sources say that any further appointments are likely to come from outside Britain and Ireland.
Sir Kenneth, who is to be nominated to the commission by the British government, chaired the commission in Northern Ireland which made recommendations on the treatment, facilities and compensation to be provided to victims of the 30 years of violence.
The equivalent figure on the Republic's victims commission is former Tanaiste Mr John Wilson. There is speculation that he may be asked to sit on the new commission, but the Government is not believed to have approached anyone at this stage.
Mr O'Donoghue and Dr Mow lam yesterday said the agreement to establish the commission was "another step in the ongoing process of healing within and between communities. More importantly, however, it brings us a step closer to ending the serious injustice which has too long been endured by the families who have been denied information about the burial places of their loved ones."