Human remains found at a house in south Dublin may have been there for a year or more.
Council workers were originally clearing the home on the Sallynoggin Road when they discovered a hand grenade at the property.
Residents in the area were then evacuated during the incident just after 9.30am on Wednesday morning.
Gardaí and the Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team attended the scene, removed the device.
An examination of the bomb determined that it was “viable but historic” and probably dates from the Irish War of Independence over a hundred years ago or from a similar era.
The Ordnance Disposal team removed the grenade and carried out a controlled explosion on the device at a nearby location.
Work resumed on the house a number of hours later after the scene had been declared safe, which is believed to be when the decomposed body of an elderly man was discovered, leaving local authorities in shock.
Gardaí were again alerted and came back to the property at around 12.25pm yesterday.
It remains unclear where in the house the man’s body was discovered.
Gardaí in Dun Laoghaire say they are investigating all of the circumstances but it's not being treated as suspicious.
Conor Lally, security and crime editor with the Irish Times, say he may have died during one of the lockdowns;
"He was kind of a quiet man, he was known as a hoarder, and he didn't really speak to people in the area. So, it just appears that possibly during periods of lockdown, when people hadn't seen him in a long time, that wasn't unusual, so nobody realised he was dead.
"He obviously died alone in the house and his remains lay there for about a year or so."
The body was removed from the scene to the Dublin City Mortuary, where a post-mortem took place, the results of which are not being released for operational reasons.
A file is now being prepared for the coroner's court.
