Rescue services will today continue their search for the body of Mr Stephen Byrne who is believed to have drowned with his two sons after driving their car off Duncannon pier in Co Wexford.
The bodies of Shane (6) and Alan (10) were recovered separately yesterday morning by local people on a stretch of coastline close to Hook Head and within five miles of the pier.
Mourners at the funeral of their mother, Maeve, who was found stabbed to death in the family home in Cuffesgrange, Co Kilkenny, on Wednesday, were told of the discoveries as Mass began. The family members were last seen alive on Monday.
A local diving team from Hook Head located the car at the end of the outer pier after midday and the Garda diving unit was called to the scene. Gardai had hoped the body of Mr Byrne would be recovered with the white Ford Escort but there was no sign of the remains as the car was lifted from the water, where it lay on its roof, at 5.30 p.m.
A child's running shoes, a soft toy, a helmet and hurleys were recovered from the car, which was taken to New Ross Garda station for technical examination.
Speculation at the scene yesterday was that Mr Byrne drove the car over the pier some time on Monday night. Senior gardai last night said the search for the body would continue but the "slim chance" that Mr Byrne was alive could not be officially ruled out.
Some locals in the fishing village knew Mr Byrne, who was a keen fisherman. He travelled to Duncannon for angling trips in boats.
Supt Tom Saunderson said the search would continue along the shoreline today.
"It would have been all the better if the body had been recovered here but I'm not surprised because the two young boys were found some distance away. The back window on the car is completely gone, the windscreen is shattered and the other four windows were rolled down," he said.
Local people joined fishermen and the rescue services on Duncannon pier yesterday as word spread through the community that a car had been found. Divers continued searching for Mr Byrne's body yesterday near where the car was located but the search was called off at about 7.30 p.m.
The body of Shane Byrne was found by Mrs Mary McGrath, a local women who was walking on Duncannon Strand before 8 a.m. She saw the body floating in the water.
Mr James Power (21) heard about the discovery on local radio and went to check the coastline at the back of his family's farm at Porter's Gate, about five miles up the coast towards Hook Head. After 10 a.m. he found the body of Alan Byrne on the rocky beach.