Post mortem results on the bodies of a family found dead in their Co Wexford home on Monday afternoon will not be released pending further tests, gardai said today.
The bodies of the four members of the Dunne family were being examined in Wexford General Hospital last night but a Garda spokesman said today further toxicology tests were being carried out.
He said those results could take some time to emerge "depending on their complexity."
It has emerged that when the dead couple, Adrian and Ciara Dunne, visited an undertaker in New Ross last Friday, they ordered four coffins, headstones and a burial plot, for themselves and their daughters, Shania (3) and Leanne (5).
Preliminary post mortem results suggest Mr Dunne was hanged, that his wife was strangled or choked, and that the two children were smothered.
The Government decided yesterday to establish an independent inquiry into the deaths of the Dunne family which will run parallel to three other investigations into the case, including two by the Garda and one by the Health Service Executive.
Concerns were first raised for the family's safety on Friday after when the undertaker informed gardaí who in turn got in touch with the Health Service Executive (HSE) on Saturday afternoon, having previously asked Fr Richard Redmond to call to the Dunne family home. Health officials only called to the home at lunchtime yesterday.
However, the HSE said it had contact with the family through its public health nursing service as recently as Friday midday for routine developmental checks with the children. It added that following the meeting, the HSE had no concerns about the Dunnes and that it did not have an "at risk" case open on the family.
The HSE also confirmed that its officials had been contacted about the family by the gardaí on Saturday.
