The bodies of a husband and wife were found at their Dublin home yesterday after they died in a fire in a downstairs bedroom, gardaí said last night. Ruadhán Mac Cormaicreports.
The bodies of the two victims, named locally as Joe and Sheila Power, were discovered by the emergency services at their home in Glenvara Park, Knocklyon, at about 3.30pm yesterday.
It is not known when they died. Local people said there was a smell of smoke in the area early yesterday morning, but there were no visible signs of damage to the front of the four-bedroom house.
A Garda spokesman said there was nothing suspicious about the deaths and he said the fire was confined to the downstairs bedroom where the bodies were found.
The victims' remains were removed to the mortuary at Tallaght hospital and postmortems are due to be carried out either today or on Monday, the spokesman added.
The couple, who had two grown-up children, had lived in the house for some 20 years. Joe Power, who was in his early 60s, was a former taxi driver. He left that job some years ago to care for his wife, who was in her late 50s and was confined to a wheelchair since she suffered a stroke about 10 years ago.
A spokesman for the fire brigade said four units and an ambulance had attended the scene of the fire yesterday afternoon but the victims had already died.
Neighbours last night described the couple as kind people who were well regarded in the area. "I knew them to see I knew the children when they used to be around here. It's terrible," said one neighbour.
Another said she had returned from work yesterday and been informed by a neighbour that the couple were dead.