Gardaí were last night questioning a man following the fatal stabbing of a mother of three at a house in west Dublin yesterday morning.
The man was arrested after gardaí were called to a house at Laverna Dale, Castleknock, at 10.40am after a disturbance at the privately owned property.
The dead woman was named locally as Jean Gilbert (46). She was found to have been stabbed a number of times in the back and upper body.
Ms Gilbert was still alive when the emergency services arrived at the scene and was taken by ambulance to James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown.
However, despite efforts to save her, her condition deteriorated throughout the afternoon and she died from her injuries at about 3pm.
She had three children, Emily (10), Alex (7) and Harvey (3). The two older children attend St Bridget's local national school in Castleknock.
It is understood the children were in the house when the incident occurred.
At midday social workers from the Health Service Executive arrived to help the children cope with their trauma.
The arrested man, a 48-year-old Irishman, was injured in the incident at the house and was also taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital for medical treatment.
His injuries were not life-threatening and he was discharged a short time later.
He was arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and taken for questioning to Blanchardstown Garda station.
He can be held for up to 24 hours without charge, meaning he must be released or charged this morning in connection with the incident. Garda sources last night told The Irish Timesthat neither the victim nor the arrested man had come to their attention before.
"There appears to have been a serious dispute that escalated and went very badly wrong," said one source.
The house was sealed off yesterday and Garda crime scene investigators carried out a full technical examination. It is understood a knife believed to be the murder weapon was found at the scene.
The State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, was informed and a postmortem was begun yesterday.
The results of that are expected to become known today.
Local residents expressed shock at the incident and described Ms Gilbert as a popular neighbour.
"I am totally shocked. The children were playing out in the street the night before," said the neighbour.
"She was a lovely woman and a great mother. The children will miss her terribly. It is terrible that such a crime should happen here."