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A postmortem examination carried out on the body of a man found in a house in Kilkenny on Thursday night has prompted gardaí to describe the death as suspicious.
While the results of the autopsy performed on the deceased, believed to be aged in his early 40s, have not been revealed for "operational reasons," they are sufficient to launch an inquiry into the death.
The victim is from the Kilkenny area but his name has not yet been released by gardaí who have appealed to witnesses for information.
It's understood the suspicious death happened after a lengthy drinking spell involving the dead man and another man who owns a house on Fatima Place in the city.
It is believed the two men returned to the house in Fatima Place sometime on Thursday afternoon after they had been drinking around Kilkenny during Wednesday night and throughout Thursday.
Gardaí are trying to piece together what happened next as both men are understood to have fallen asleep and it wasn't until the house-owner raised the alarm at about 6.30pm that it was realised something was wrong.
Ambulance personnel attempted to revive the injured man but those efforts proved unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards at the scene.
His body was taken to Waterford Regional Hospital where the postmortem was conducted by assistant state pathologist Dr Khalid Jabber.
A garda involved in the investigation said today Dr Jabber "wasn't happy" with what he found and the postmortem had ruled out death by natural causes.
"They were drinking fairly heavily, throughout the day, for about 24 hours and went down to the house and had more drink. One ended up dead and the other didn't know what happened."
The other man has already been interviewed by detectives who are also speaking to a number people known by the deceased.
Gardaí have also been carrying out door-to-door inquiries in the vicinity of Fatima Place, a quiet residential area around a green which is located near Emmett Street, off Kennyswell Road and the Circular Road in Kilkenny.