The State Pathologist, Prof Marie Cassidy, is to carry out a post- mortem examination today on the body of a man which was discovered yesterday in a cold storage unit in Galway city.
Gardaí are treating the death as suspicious and an investigation has been initiated by Mill Street Garda station. They were unable to confirm the man's identity or nationality last night.
The area around the small building on St John's Avenue, Henry Street, was sealed off yesterday afternoon, pending the arrival of Garda technical experts to carry out a forensic examination.
It is hoped that preliminary postmortem results will give some indication of cause of death, and how long the man's body had been in the freezer unit, which is used to store fish.
It is understood that a staff member in the fish shop which uses the unit - behind its premises - found the body, and reported it to gardaí at about 2.30pm yesterday.
Henry Street, also known as "the West", is a quiet and largely residential area of the city. Many of the residents have lived for generations in the terraced houses, dating from the 1920s, which were occupied by mill workers. Neighbours said that nothing like this had happened before in the close-knit community.
Supt Tom Curley of Mill Street Garda station said there were very few details at this point. He and senior Garda officers were due to meet to examine findings so far at Mill Street last night.