Gardaí investigating the death of a man found following a house fire in Youghal in Co Cork have upgraded their inquiry to a murder investigation.
A preliminary postmortem examination by assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster confirmed that the 31-year-old man died a violent death.
Gardaí under Supt Flor Horan have now launched a full scale murder inquiry into the death of the man who was found following a fire at his flat in Youghal.
The man, who has been named as Michael O'Shea, was discovered with a serious injury when firefighters managed to remove him from his groundfloor flat at North Main Street in the seaside town.
A paramedic worked to resuscitate the man but he was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 2.3am this morning and an investigation was launched.
A garda technical team from Dublin examined the man's body at the scene earlier today and the remains were removed at 1pm for a post-mortem.