Gardaí are still investigating the scene of a house fire in Ballymahon, Co Longford, in the early hours of yesterday morning which claimed the lives of a husband and wife. Mary Mullins reports.
The fire is believed to have been started by an electrical appliance in the garage area of the house at approximately 5.45 a.m. It then spread from the garage to the bedroom situated above it, where it is believed Vincent and Patricia Farrell lay sleeping.
Their three children, Jacinta (19), Alan (17) and Aisling (11), who were in the house at the time, escaped uninjured.
The remains of Mr and Ms Farrell were discovered by fire services and removed to the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, for post-mortem examinations.
Meanwhile, forensic examinations are continuing on their family home at Forgney, Ballymahon, where the couple lived for some 20 years.
Mr Vincent Farrell (54), originally from Pallas, was a mixed farmer, and has been described as a "hard-working" man. He came from a large family, and is survived by his mother, who resides in Ballymahon.
Ms Patricia Farrell (49), née Dolan, also came from a large family, from the townsland of Tashinny, Abbeyshrule, some four miles from their family home in Forgney.
They were both described as industrious people who had worked hard to build up their farm and provide for their family. Friends and neighbours are shocked by what has been described as a dreadful accident.
This is the second such tragedy in the area in the past 17 months. A neighbour and close friend of the Farrells, Mr Michael Dardis, was killed in a work-related accident in August 2002. Vincent and Michael had been close friends, and had often helped each other on their farms.
The youngest Farrell child, Aisling, attends Colehill National School; Alan is in secondary school in Ballymahon; and the eldest, Jacinta, is studying nursing in Athlone.
Father Joe Pettit, curate of the parish of Tang, Forgney and Drumrainey, said he has known the family about 14 years, and described them as "the nicest family anyone could meet".
He explained that no funeral arrangements had been made yet as post-mortem examinations were taking place, and it was unsure when the bodies would be released for burial. The local curate told how the Farrells had extended their home in recent years, and that it was in this extension, above the garage, where the couple died.
Their children, who were sleeping downstairs, awoke to the smell of smoke and alerted emergency services, but the couple were unable to escape, and it is thought they died from smoke inhalation.
It was not long after the emergency services were alerted that neighbours began to gather. Father Pettit described them, and the family, as being traumatised by the incident.