THE HUMAN skeletal remains discovered in the Dublin mountains on Sunday are likely to be male and have been there for up to a year, gardaí said yesterday.
However, gardaí were still trying to identify the man and find out how he died.
They hoped results of a postmortem at Tallaght Hospital yesterday evening would help in the identification.
“When we have the postmortem results we will be able to know further what we are dealing with here,” Supt John Gilligan of the Garda Press Office said.
The remains were found in a ditch in a boggy area among some trees by two people who were out walking at about 2.30pm on Sunday. Gardaí arrived at the scene at about 3pm and sealed off the area at Military Road near the junction with Piperstown Road.
It is near an area known as the “viewing point”. Officers from the Garda technical bureau began a wider search of the area yesterday.
The scene where the remains were found was examined yesterday morning by Assistant State Pathologist Michael Curtis, assisted by forensic anthropologist Dr Laureen Buckley.
Dr Buckley’s expertise was needed because the remains were in an “advanced stage of decomposition”, Supt Gilligan said.
A number of items of clothing and footwear were also found with the remains.
Dental evidence and DNA will also be used in an effort to identify the dead man. The investigation team is looking at the likelihood of the remains being there for anything up to a year, gardaí said.
Gardaí were confident that despite the lack of information and the complexity of the case, they would be able to identify the person.
The investigation team has been in contact with a number of families of missing persons in relation to the find.
Gardaí said it was “a matter of courtesy” to those who were awaiting news of missing relatives in the past months and years.
They are “anxious to preserve the scene until such a time as everything that can be gleaned from an examination of the scene has been done,” Supt Gilligan said.
Gardaí were due to hold a case conference at Tallaght Garda station last night.
The discovery is being treated as a “full investigation” and is a “complex investigation because we have very little to go by”, Supt Gilligan said.
Gardaí have appealed for information from the public who use the sparse mountainous road which leads to the Sally Gap.
“They may have seen something in the past number of months where a person passed through they area and saw a car stopped and somebody acting in a suspicious manner,” Supt Gilligan added.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Tallaght Garda station on 01-6666056.
