Gardaí were last night trying to piece together the final movements of a man and woman in their 50s whose bodies were found with shotgun wounds in a B&B in Carlow town.
The identities of the deceased had not been officially released last night. However, sources said the dead man was John Deegan, Cadamstown, near Birr, Co Offaly. The woman was Deirdre Keenan, Kilcullen, near Naas, Co Kildare.
The Irish Times understands both were separated from their respective partners, had been in a relationship with each other for over a year, and had been living together in Cloghan, Co Offaly. The pair died of gunshot wounds; gardaí do not believe there was third-party involvement.
The case is being treated as a murder-suicide. Ms Keenan is believed to have been shot first. She was found dead in an upstairs room of the Stonehaven B&B on Centaur Street.
Mr Deegan, from a farming background, was found dead downstairs in the property and a legally held shotgun was found beside his body. He is believed to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Gardaí are still trying to establish a motive for the deaths. The couple were found dead at 1.30pm yesterday when a member of the family who owns the B&B called to the premises.
The couple had booked in for two nights and had been seen socialising in the town on Saturday and Sunday nights. They are both believed to have died late Sunday night or in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The scene was sealed off when the bodies were found and underwent an examination by the Garda Technical Bureau. The shotgun found at the scene was taken away for ballistic tests. The remains were removed for postmortems after a preliminary examination of both bodies was carried out at the scene by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis.