Gardaí are investigating the deaths of a man and a woman whose bodies were found at a house in Bray, Co Wicklow, on Wednesday morning. The pair have been named locally as Biddy O'Brien and Jamie McGinn, according to the Irish Examiner.
The discovery was made at a property at Cois Cairn on Old Connaught Avenue shortly before 8am. Mr McGinn, who was in his 30s, was found outside the house, while Ms O'Brien, who was in her 40s, was located within the building.
The scene has been cordoned off to allow a technical examination to proceed, and the State Pathologist was called in. Gardaí have said the outcome of post-mortem examinations will shape the direction of their inquiry.
Why it matters
The deaths have brought fresh grief to a family that suffered a devastating loss almost a decade ago, and they have left a close-knit local community struggling to absorb the news. The case also remains unresolved in its essentials: until the pathologist's findings are available, gardaí have not indicated what they believe happened at the house.
The bodies were taken from the scene in two ambulance vans shortly after 3pm on Wednesday and brought to the city morgue at Whitehall. State Pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis was due to carry out the examinations across Wednesday evening and Thursday, per the Irish Examiner.
A family marked by earlier tragedy
The deaths come nearly ten years after a fire in Clondalkin, west Dublin, killed four people, among them two young children. In the early hours of March 8, 2017, flames broke out at an apartment in a supported accommodation complex run by Sonas Housing.
Ms O'Brien's children, Jordan McGinn, aged four, and Holly O'Brien, who was 22 months old, died in that fire. Also killed were Ms O'Brien's cousin Annemarie O'Brien, 27, who was pregnant, and Annemarie's two-year-old daughter, Paris. Annemarie's unborn son, whom the family had named AJ, also died.
Ms O'Brien was the only person to survive the blaze. She sustained serious burns and needed lengthy hospital treatment.
An inquest held in 2018 heard that the fire was most likely started by a tea light or candle that set a television alight, and the coroner returned verdicts of accidental death. The children and their relatives were laid to rest after funerals in Shankill, Co Dublin, attended by hundreds of mourners, with burial at Springfield Cemetery in Bray.
The Irish Times reported that there were no obvious indications that the mother who died at the Wicklow home had suffered violence. The Irish Independent noted that the couple found dead in Bray had lost children in the apartment fire nine years earlier.
Shock in the local community
News of Wednesday's discovery has been met with shock and sadness in the Bray area. Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow John Brady said there was a deep sense of disbelief locally and described the situation as devastating for the community.
He said those involved were well known in the area and that the local community is closely connected, with extended family members also living nearby.
Gardaí have appealed to anyone with information about the circumstances surrounding the deaths to contact Shankill Garda Station.
The investigation continues, with the post-mortem results now the key factor in determining how the case proceeds.
