Gardaí have opened a murder investigation after the body of an 80-year-old man was found in a house in the Dublin's south city centre.
Neighbours said the man, who was named locally as Vincent Plunkett, had his throat cut.
He was found by his care worker at his apartment at Robinson's Court, off Cork Street, at around midday yesterday.
Local resident Edward Hernon said he found the man lying on the floor of the apartment. He was in his underpants and covered with a duvet. He said that the man's throat had been cut from ear to ear.
A postmortem was carried out last night.
"We are appealing to anybody who was in the area, or anybody who has information, that knows anybody who would have visited the deceased at 27 Robinson's Court, if they could contact us at Kevin Street Garda station," Det Supt PJ Browne said yesterday.
Neighbours said the dead man was from the Athlone area. Local people said he drove a new silver van, which he used for a courier or delivery service. Other residents said that the dead man was a fluent Irish speaker.
The sheltered accommodation complex at Robinson Court is operated by Dublin City Council for persons over the age of 60.
There are 41 apartments and three bungalows in the complex. Locals said that 99 per cent of residents were pensioners.
Residents said that they had been pressing the council to have security gates installed.