The family of Ciara Dunne has rejected suggestions that she was involved in a suicide pact with her husband Adrian. The couple, along with their two young daughters, were found dead at their home in Monageer, Co Wexford, on Monday.
Members of Ms Dunne's family said yesterday they had been concerned for her safety and that of her children, while her mother, Marian O'Brien, had told gardaí and other "professionals" of her fears.
Ciara's uncle, property developer PJ McDermott, said the family was deeply upset at reports in the media linking her death to a suicide pact.
He told reporters in Wexford yesterday: "I have read every newspaper today - suicide, suicide, suicide. You have two grieving families and you are printing one side of the story."
Earlier, speaking on behalf of the O'Brien family, Fianna Fáil TD Dr Jim McDaid - a friend of the family - claimed Ciara (24) had been trapped in a domineering relationship with Adrian Dunne (29).
"Ciara was a very impressionable young woman. He was a very dominant figure," Dr McDaid told Highland Radio in Donegal. "Her parents were up and down to Wexford on a number of occasions because of their concerns for their daughter's safety.
"I know her mother Marian was devastated at times and very distraught and would break down in front of friends.
"Every time they went to Wexford they were fobbed off, every time they were told to go away. She [Ciara] had to obey his orders." He added that Ms O'Brien had made her concerns known to gardaí, a priest and "society leaders and professionals" in Wexford.
Dr McDaid said it was accepted that Mr Dunne was a loving father to his children but "like all domineering people", he tended to isolate his family.
He expected a postmortem examination would provide some answers. "If it does come out that Ciara was the first to die, there is no way she could probably have murdered her children," he said.
However, the Dunne family yesterday insisted that the relationship between Adrian and Ciara was a normal, loving relationship.
Adrian's sister, Bridget, also said the O'Brien family were not in a position to judge the nature of Adrian and Ciara's relationship as they seldom called in on the family. "They called in every few months for about half an hour, usually if they were on the way to somewhere like Cork," she told The Irish Times.
She said Adrian was a loving father and shared a very close relationship with Ciara since they had met almost seven years ago.
Ms Dunne added that if it turned out to be a suicide pact, responsibility lay with both parents.
"My mammy said it last night and she said it again today. If it does turn out to have been a pact, then they must both share equal blame."
Differences between both families also arose yesterday over where the children should be buried.
The Dunne family said they wanted Adrian and the couple's two children, Léan and Shania, buried together in Co Wexford in accordance with the couple's wishes. Bridget Dunne said the family felt they should abide by the details in instructions to undertakers last week.
The O'Brien family, however, want the bodies of Ciara and her two daughters sent back to Donegal for burial.
Dr McDaid said the O'Briens would not be talking themselves to the media until they made "an amicable arrangement with Adrian's family on burial arrangements".
The postmortem results on the four members of the Dunne family will not be released until toxicology results were completed, gardaí said yesterday. This process may take several weeks.
The examinations were carried out by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis in Wexford hospital yesterday. The bodies are due to be released to the families shortly.