A Dublin man is expected to appear in court in southern Spain today in connection with the killing of his partner at their villa on the Costa Blanca on Sunday.
Spanish police were last night continuing to question 28-year-old Paul Hickey, originally of Buttercup Park, Darndale.
He is alleged to have murdered his partner on Sunday morning as their three children, aged eight, five and one, looked on.
The victim had not been named by the Department of Foreign Affairs last night but it is understood she was Celine Conroy originally from Sean Treacy House, Buckingham Street, Dublin.
The Department is offering consular assistance to Ms Conroy's family in Dublin.
It is understood the couple and their children had been living in Sean Treacy House when not in Spain.
A neighbour of the couple's in Spain, understood to be the children's aunt, called police around noon on Sunday saying she believed the Dublin woman had been injured or killed.
When police reached the villa in the resort of San Fulgencio, near Torrevieja, southern Spain, they found the 26-year-old mother of three lying dead in a pool of blood on the floor of the property.
Police believe she had been murdered hours earlier on Sunday morning.
Spanish police said Mr Hickey was in a state of shock on arrest and had to be sedated before he could be detained.
The couple's three children were immediately taken into care by the Spanish authorities.
Mr Hickey is known to gardaí. He was due in court in Ireland next month to answer a number of charges including two counts of cannabis possession in Co Wexford last June.
He also stands charged with one count of possessing a butterfly knife and with a number of traffic offences.
He was disqualified from driving and fined in late 2000 after being convicted of minor traffic offences in Dublin.
His father was a known drug dealer in Dublin's inner city in the 1980s.
He served time in prison for heroin possession having been caught twice with the drug.
Mr Hickey and Ms Conroy were on an extended holiday in the Costa Blanca resort.
The couple had rented the small semi-detached house at Helsinki Street for two months, as they have done for several years. They were well known to local residents.
The Marina Oasis estate is in an area of hundreds of small chalets, packed close together, popular with holidaymakers, mainly Irish, British and German.
The Guardia Civil in the nearby town of of Guardamar del Segura, where Mr Hickey was being held, said yesterday that the Dubliner is expected to appear before a judge today.