GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the disappearance of schoolboy Philip Cairns, who has been missing for 23 years, yesterday sealed off a wooded area of a south Dublin golf club as part of a search.
Acting on a new lead, gardaí sealed off part of Grange Golf Club in Rathfarnham for technical examination.
A Garda spokeswoman said geophysicists and experts from the Garda Technical Bureau would be deployed and that the area would be excavated over the coming days.
The Irish Times understands a woman has told gardaí she recalled seeing a grave-shaped mound of earth at the site at about the time the schoolboy disappeared. Garda sources said soil experts would this morning check if the earth had been disturbed in the past.
Sources said while it was possible the missing teenager’s remains could be at the site, the dig was being treated as a precautionary one at this stage.
The 13-year-old schoolboy was last seen on the Ballyroan Road in Rathfarnham on Thursday, October 23rd, 1986.
Despite extensive searches in the aftermath of his disappearance, no trace of him has been found.
He had left Coláiste Éanna secondary school at 12.45pm and returned to his home on Ballyroan Road for lunch.
At 1.30pm, he left his home to return to the school, but never arrived.
Philip’s school bag was found in a laneway, which links Anne Devlin Road and Anne Devlin Drive, near to the school, the following week.
Gardaí, along with hundreds of local people and sub aqua divers, were involved in searching rivers, lakes, forests and the Dublin mountains.
There were more than 400 reported sightings of the missing boy and all were followed up.
Speaking to The Irish Timeslast night, Dermot Murphy, chairman of the greens committee at Grange Golf Club, said: "It's an absolute bombshell to think that this location could have anything to do with the missing schoolboy."
One local resident, Fred Steinfeld, said he would be very surprised if a body was buried in the golf club grounds.
Another said: “I think it would be very unlikely a body could be buried there, as it’s very well-maintained and constantly being dug-up and cut back – someone surely would have noticed or found something.”
The Irish Crimestoppers Trust has offered a €10,000 reward for any information which could solve the mystery of the boy’s disappearance.