Gardai are expected to search a field in the foothills of the Dublin mountains, which could be the site where missing schoolboy Philip Cairns was buried.

The Irish Independent reports the land was used by the convicted paedophile Eamon Cooke to transmit a signal for his pirate radio station.

The planned search follows reports that people saw Cooke using a digger on the property more than 30 years ago, and may have buried a container underground.

13 year old Philip Cairns disappeared on his way back to school in Rathfarnham in Dublin in 1986.

Gardai have renewed an appeal for information over the schoolboy's death, after new information came to light in recent weeks.