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.

One of his former teachers and football trainers at Killorglin Community College, George Dennis, described Shane as a model student.

"He would do anything you asked him and showed lots of enterprise. He also played in goal on the college team that won the Munster junior championship in 1994. Everybody who knew him is terribly shocked at his death,'' Mr Dennis said.

The three surviving members of the family were being comforted by relatives yesterday.

Shane's brother, James, 29, had travelled to Dublin on Saturday for the All-Ireland football final and news of the tragedy was broken to him on Sunday morning. A sister, Margaret, was staying with her grandmother in Tralee on Saturday night, whilst another sister, Marie Therese, is understood to have been with friends in Cork.

Some materials were taken away from the ruins of the house yesterday for further examination and the investigation is not expected to be completed until some time today.

Among the possibilities being examined are that the fire may have been started by an electrical appliance or a cigarette.

The alarm was raised at 8.40am on Sunday after people saw smoke billowing from the house, which lies off the main Castlemaine/Dingle road, However, the house was already gutted by the time three fire engines arrived from Killorglin and Tralee and there was little they could do. Garda Supt Pat Sullivan yesterday appealed to anyone who was in the area between 4am and 8am to come forward.