Cause of tragic house fire still unknown

MYSTERY still surrounds the cause of a fire which claimed the lives of three members of a family in Castlemaine, Co Kerry, early on Sunday.

Garda forensic experts yesterday sifted through the embers at the two-storey farmhouse in search of clues that might reveal the cause of the blaze in which John Daly, 66, his wife, Mary, 57, and their son, Shane, 24, died.

The father and son were in Griffin's bar, Castlemaine, where Shane once worked, on Saturday night. Shane, who was employed by a local building contractor, later went to a disco at the Brandon Hotel, in Tralee, returning home in the early hours of Sunday.