Sniffer dogs will join the search today for Irish backpacker Ronan Lawlor who is missing in South America.
The 28-year-old from Durrow in Co Laois has been missing since entering a national park on the Chilean-Argentinian border a month ago.
Today the search will be narrowed down to a route it is believed he might have taken.
Chilean authorities have promised to provide whatever assistance is necessary in the search for the missing man.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has spoken to his Chilean counterpart, Alberto Van Klaveren. Mr Ahern also spoke to the Irish ambassador in Buenos Aires in Argentina, Philomena Murnaghan.
Mr Lawlor has not been in touch with friends or family since 18 November when he entered the Torres del Paine national park.
The search has been narrowed to a certain area of the park on the border between Argentina and Chile.
A friend of Mr Lawlor, Colm O'Gorman, said they had managed to speak to a couple who had met Ronan on a bus as they journeyed to the park together.
He said Mr Lawlor told the couple the direction he was going and the campsite he intended to stay at.
