A postmortem will be carried out later this morning on the skeletal remains of a woman found in a public park in Dublin yesterday.
Gardaí believe the remains may be those of a middle-aged woman who went missing more than three years ago. They are thought to have lain in a hollow by bushes under an electricity pylon for several years.
They were discovered in Tolka Valley Park, Finglas, north Dublin, when boys playing football entered the area to retrieve a ball at about 1pm yesterday.
The children saw a number of bones including what they believed to be a human skull and immediately raised the alarm.
Gardaí sealed off the area and the remains were examined at the scene yesterday afternoon by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy.
Garda sources said they would decide on the direction their investigation would take later today, when the results of the postmortem will be known. However, nothing has emerged in the inquiry so far to indicate foul play.
The same sources said it appeared the remains had been there a number of years and expressed surprise they could have gone undiscovered for so long.
While the body has not yet been formally identified, gardaí believe it may be the remains of Bernie Gavan, a 58-year-old woman who has not been seen since August 19th, 2007.
Ms Gavan suffered from bipolar disorder and was a patient at Daneswood House, Glasnevin, north Dublin. Her teenage son had died in tragic circumstances a number of years before her disappearance. Ms Gavan was last seen on Broombridge Road, Cabra, on the afternoon of the day she went missing. The spot where the skeletal remains were found yesterday is just a short distance from where she was last seen alive.
Ms Gavan was just under 1.52 metres (five feet) tall with blond hair. She wore glasses and was of heavy build. When last seen she was wearing a pink jacket, pink top, pink shoes and black pants.
Her family were very concerned for her safety from the time of her disappearance and her sister made a number of appeals through the media for information that might help solve the disappearance.
However, no trace of her was found.