Gardaí have begun a murder investigation into the death of Ian Walsh at his home in Co Tipperary earlier this week.
Mr Walsh (49) was found with stab wounds in his home at Ravenswood, on the Cregg Road in Carrick-on-Suir, by family members at about 3.30am on Monday.
Gardaí upgraded their investigation into the Iarnród Éireann employee’s death following the receipt of results of a postmortem examination by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Yvonne McCartney at University Hospital Waterford on Wednesday which confirmed he was a victim of foul play.
Garda technical experts from Dublin are continuing to forensically examine the scene at Mr Walsh’s two-storey house, where he lived alone. It is understood they will continue to examine the scene for a number of days.
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Gardaí believe Mr Walsh was killed sometime between 8pm on Friday night (when he was last seen alive) and early on Monday.
Mr Walsh’s body was found by relatives who became concerned when he failed to show up at a family event on Sunday and went to his house.
Gardaí have carried out door-to-door enquiries in the Ravenswood and Cregg Road estates and begun taking witness statements to try to establish if anyone saw Mr Walsh alive later than 8pm on Friday and whether anyone heard any disturbance at the house.
Gardaí have also begun canvassing houses in the area to see whether there is any CCTV footage in the estate that would help them identify anyone who may have entered or was seen in the vicinity of Mr Walsh’s house over the bank holiday weekend.
Gardaí are continuing to appeal for witnesses or anyone with information to contact them.
Mr Walsh worked as a signalman at Kent Station in Cork, having previously worked in catering with Irish Rail on its Waterford service and as an instructor at the Irish Rail training school in Inchicore.
Iarnród Éireann paid tribute to Mr Walsh, who was well-known among staff and train enthusiasts for his work in helping to record Ireland’s rail heritage, particularly in the south and southeast.
“All of us in Iarnród Éireann are shocked and saddened at Ian’s passing. Ian was a well-known and popular colleague across the company, both in his working life in roles from catering to signalling, and for his passion for railway and transport tourism and heritage,” it said. “Our thoughts are with his family, and his friends in the railway and beyond, at this difficult time.”
Rail heritage group Táilte Tours also paid tribute to Mr Walsh, saying he was a huge supporter of the group and of Ireland’s rich railway heritage for many years.
“Ian ran five rail tours of his own over the course of the mid to late 2000s and was very much a pioneer in ‘outside the box’ tours in Ireland, starting them from locations such as Waterford and Limerick, in an era when tours were generally based in Dublin or Belfast,” it said.
“He was more than happy to pass his experience and expertise on when we started operations a few years ago; for those of you who enjoyed the ‘surprise’ rare track moves on our Cork-based rail tours, you can thank Ian, who went far beyond the extra mile to ensure our operations went off without a hitch.
“He had a wonderful knowledge of the Iarnród Éireann system and its people, and had also developed a passion for Bus Éireann operations, diligently recording the last runs on several rural routes in the southeast as they disappeared, quickly becoming a friend to bus drivers in the Cork and Waterford areas.”
