Gardaí believe the remains of a middle-aged man found in a house in north Dublin on Saturday night might have lain undiscovered for some time.
An apparent break-in, or an attempt to gain entry for an attack, reported at the house by a number of men on Saturday night, was also being investigated.
Garda sources stressed the investigation into the death was still in its early stages, but initial indications suggested the man died before this weekend and possibly significantly before.
Gardaí believe the man was resident in the property where his body was found.
The remains of the man, aged about 50 years, were found at his home on St Michael’s Rd, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, after reports of what appeared to be a break-in attempt at the house by a number of men on Saturday night.
Gardaí from nearby Mountjoy Garda station responded to those calls and when they arrived found no sign of a break-in.
The gardaí who responded to the call then examined the house and gained entry to it where they discovered the body.
Because it appeared as if the man had been dead for some time, the body was left at the scene overnight before an examination of the house by the Garda Technical Bureau on Sunday morning.
Garda sources said postmortem results would be required before they could determine the cause of death and whether it was as a result of foul play.
The same sources said when the cause of death was known it would help gardaí determine what , if any, links there were between the man’s death and reports of an attempted break-in at the property at about 11pm on Saturday.
If the time of death was confirmed as predating this weekend, sources said gardaí would try to determine if the dead man had recently been targeted in any way .
Reports of the attempted break-in by a number of men were being treated as credible by gardaí, who want to establish if any other similar incidents occurred recently that may be linked to the death.
Gardaí have asked anyone with information about the dead man or who may have seen anything at the house on Saturday night or at any time in recent days to contact Mountjoy Garda station on (01) 6668602.