The skeletal remains which were discovered in the Dublin mountains yesterday afternoon are likely to be male and have been there for less than a year, gardaí have said.
A postmortem is taking place at Tallaght Hospital this afternoon which should reveal further information to help in the identification of the man.
The remains were found were in a ditch amongst some trees by two people out walking at about 2.30pm yesterday.
Emergency services arrived at about 3pm and the scene at Military Road near the junction with Piperstown Road was sealed off by the Garda Technical Bureau.
The remains were examined this morning by Assistant State Pathologist Michael Curtis and Forensic Anthropologist Laureen Buckley.
They found the body to be in an “advanced stage of decomposition”. Gardaí said the body was at the scene for some months but less than a year.
A number of items of clothing as well as footwear were also found.
Dental evidence and DNA will be used in an effort to identify the deceased man.
Gardaí are confident they can discover who the person is despite the complexity of the case and lack of information.
The investigation team has been in contact with a number of families of missing people in relation to the find. Gardaí said it was a matter of courtesy to those who were awaiting news of relatives who had been missing in the past number of months and years.
Gardaí are going to carry out a wider search of the area in coming days. They are anxious to preserve the scene which is in a very rural setting and have set a technical van up at the scene. A case conference is being held at Tallaght Garda station this evening and gardaí said the discovery is being treated as a “full investigation”.
Gardaí have appealed to the public who use the road to contact Tallaght Garda station on 6666056 if they have any information.
The road is quite busy and leads up to the Sally Gap so many people would pass through it on a regular basis, a spokesman said.
