Gardai are investigating the circumstances of the deaths yesterday of two young men from the Arklow area of Co Wicklow.
The men, both in their early 20s, were known to be drug-users, and gardaí are trying to establish whether their deaths could be related to consumption of contaminated heroin or its substitute, methadone.
The body of one of the men, who was aged 20, was found in a house at Harbour Road, Arklow, shortly after 11 a.m. It was removed to the Dublin City Morgue, where the Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, was due to conduct a post-mortem examination last night.
The second man, who was aged 22, died at St Colmcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, at 6 a.m. Gardaí said he had admitted himself two days ago. A post-mortem examination will be conducted by Dr Cassidy on Monday.
Consumption of heroin from a contaminated batch resulted in eight deaths in the Republic in 2000. They were among 43 similar deaths in Ireland and the UK at the time.
A UK inquiry subsequently found that the victims had contracted a clostridium novyi bacterial infection from a contaminated heroin batch which originated in Afghanistan. The heroin, police said, had been produced in dirty and unhygienic conditions.
Last night a Garda spokesman said it was too early to speculate on the precise cause of the Arklow fatalities. "The only connection at this stage is that they were both from Arklow," he said.
A spokesman for the East Coast Area Health Board, which covers the Wicklow area, said the board was monitoring the situation and awaiting the results of toxicology tests on both men. "We will not be able to comment further until we know the results of those tests," he said.
The Labour Party's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, who represents Wicklow, said there was a very serious drug problem in Arklow. She added: "It is a growing town with a young population, and drugs are a real problem. It is shattering to hear of the deaths of two young men in this way."
Ms McManus said the local community and the health board should work together to ensure that a methadone treatment programme was put in place in Arklow. Attempts by the health board to set up such a programme in the past have met with local resistance. "We have to ensure that these young people are now taken off heroin and are stabilised," she said.
The only methadone treatment programme in the county is in Bray.