Two people died in a house fire outside Enniscorthy in Co Wexford which broke out around midnight last night.
The bodies of a girl aged nine and a woman aged 87 were removed from the detached house at Clohass and taken to Waterford Regional Hospital for postmortem.
Emergency services were called to tackle the blaze at about 12.30am.
The girl had been staying in the house with her mother and her mother’s partner.
The mother’s partner, in his 50s, was taken to Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin for treatment for non life-threatening injuries after the fire.
Gardaí are not as yet treating the cause of the fire as suspicious, but are awaiting the results of the postmortems.
The scene has been preserved as investigations by gardaí continue.
The relationship between the young girl and the woman has not as yet been confirmed.
Fianna Fail TD John Browne said there is a huge amount of shock and sadness in the area today.
Additional reporting: PA