The Dutch prosecutor in charge of the investigation into the murder of the three Irishmen has said she hopes there will be positive identification of the victims this weekend.

Ms Hanele Ehelmans also said yesterday she was confident there would be prosecutions of those responsible for the murders of the two Co Tipperary men and the third man from Co Clare.

By yesterday the Garda and the RUC were satisfied no one else had died in the attack. There had been fears of further deaths earlier in the week when it emerged that five passports had been found in the apartment where the three bodies were found last Saturday morning.

However, yesterday it was learned that the passport bearing the picture, name and address of a 27-year-old Northern Ireland woman was a fake.

The other passport, that of a Co Limerick man, was stolen in Amsterdam in 1998 and reported to the Irish Embassy at the time.

Police sources said fake and stolen passports were frequently uncovered in operations involving organised crime and drug trafficking.

It is now accepted that two of the victims were friends, both aged in their late 20s from the south-west, who went to work in the Netherlands five years ago as labourers.

They worked for at least two years in casual construction and agricultural work before drifting into drug dealing.

It is understood the younger brother of one of these men joined them about two years ago when they all moved to the Gevers apartment block in the North Sea resort of Scheveningen.

Yesterday, Ms Ehelmans of the Public Prosecutor's office in The Hague would not say if the Dutch police were following any particular lead in the case.

She said she hoped there would be some positive identification of the dead men over the weekend, but could not guarantee this. "As soon as we know the identities, we will be informing the families. If they want to come to the Netherlands, that depends on them."

She again said she was "very confident" the killers would be caught.

The Garda Press Office said yesterday it could be the middle of next week before the identities of the three murdered men were officially confirmed. The men's families - who live in Ennis, Co Clare and Bansha, Co Tipperary - have been contacted by the gardai and blood samples taken.

These samples, along with the men's dental records, were sent to the Netherlands on Thursday night to aid the identification process of the charred remains.

Meanwhile, it is understood the widowed mother and sister of the Ennis victim may travel to the Netherlands in the coming days.

Mr Garry Stack, the principal of the boys' national school in the town, of which the victim is a past pupil, said the family were trying to establish when the body would be released to them and if a journey at this stage would serve any purpose.

Mr Stack was critical of media coverage of the deaths and said he had lodged complaints with RTE and TV3 for picturing the family home in Ennis on the television news before the family had received unofficial confirmation that it was their relative.

One daughter in the family of 10 children had learned of her brother's death from the television, he said.

"It seems to be a limbo bar - everyone is trying to go lower than their competitors. One reporter knocked on the mother's door and when she chose not to answer, they knocked on the window. The family's dignity should be respected at this time," added Mr Stack.