Gardaí believe the remains discovered at the bottom of a cliff in the Horses Glen area of Mangerton Mountain in Killarney to be that of the missing Swedish student Olaf Janssen, who has been missing since December 2004.
Mr Janssen's mother-in-law Ellen Callaghan, who lives in Kerry, spoke of the family's relief and paid tribute to two local gardaí and the Kerry Mountain Rescue service who "never gave up".
She had been in continuous contact since Wednesday with her daughter Mariam Elgamel, who is studying English literature in Glasgow University and who has been informed of the discovery of her husband's remains.
Formerly a soldier, Mr Janssen (22), from Gothenburg, was studying in Scotland. He had not been heard of since accessing his mobile-phone voice mail in late December 2004, after setting out alone on a three-day trek for Carrauntoohil. He and Mariam had been married just days earlier and he was on honeymoon at the Kilgarvan home of his mother-in-law.
An extensive search of a 220sq km area co-ordinated by local gardaí and the Kerry Mountain Rescue service was carried out but no trace had ever been found.
In early January 2005 his former comrades and commanding officer from the Swedish special forces unit, a commando-style unit which had served in Kosovo, assisted in the search. They believed his survival skills were such he might still be alive. The operation also included satellite search to pinpoint the mobile phone. Water rescue teams and clairvoyants were involved.
Last Wednesday morning, former Kerry senior footballer and local sheep farmer Timmy Fleming was at the back of the Horses Glen bringing down his sheep when he spotted a green rucksack at the base of a gully at Lough Erhogh. Then he spotted a boot and camouflage gear.
Mr Fleming said he believed there had been a mudslide which had brought the remains down and into the open.
He accompanied 22 members of the Kerry Mountain Rescue service yesterday and Garda Denis O'Brien of Kilgarvan and Sgt Tom Tobin of Killarney, who were the most involved in the search.
At the base of Mangerton, Sgt Tobin said a number of items were recovered, including a backpack with a rolled-up tent attached, and farther up the cliff body parts were recovered, but there was no sign of the mobile phone.
The Garda sergeant said Mr Janssen would have fallen off the top of a steep ridge at about 1,200 ft and and would have been concealed in the gully. He had apparently gone 180 degrees towards the east, rather than to the west.
Brendan Coffey, spokesman for the Kerry Mountain Rescue, said it was impossible to say why he had gone in that direction. Weather conditions may have been a factor.