TWO Limerick soldiers have joined the search for the remains of Jacobite hero Patrick Sarsfield.
Sergeant Dave O’Brien and Private James Fleming from the 12th Infantry Battalion in Sarsfield Barracks travelled to Huy, Belgium, to help the team with the excavation of the remaining part of the site.
This forms part of the Sarsfield Homecoming Project, launched in 2020 by Dr Loïc Guyon, Honorary Consul of France and head of French studies at Mary Immaculate College, which is entering its final phase.
The excavation team also received a visit from General Séan Clancy, former chief of staff of the Irish Defence Forces, and current chair of the European Union Military Committee (EUMC).
Commenting on the visit, Dr Guyon said: “My team and I were greatly honoured by General Clancy’s visit and his interest in the project.”
“We are also extremely grateful to Lieutenant Colonel Damian Carroll, Commanding Officer of the 12th Infantry Battalion of the Defence Forces, for his willingness to send two soldiers from Limerick to Huy to assist us with the excavations.”
Last January, there was hope that Sarsfield’s remains had been discovered but DNA results showed that it was the remains of a local Belgian man instead.
Since then, the search has resumed on the remainder of the site and, during a recent trip in September, the team found human bones the characteristics and locations of which, they say, are in line with what they are looking for.
DNA is currently being extracted from those remains and the results are expected in a few months.
The project’s team expects the archaeological works, led by archaeologist Frank Coyne (Aegis Archaeology Ltd), is expected to be completed by this coming spring.