People in Ashtown in Dublin say they'll do all they can to support the family of a man and child who drowned yesterday.

The 30-year-old father and his son were on their way to visit relatives when they took a short cut at the back of Ashington Green housing estate in Ashtown on the North side of the city.

It's not yet clear what happened to the pair, and post mortems are due to be carried out on Monday.

Gardai say they're treating the incident as a tragic accident, while locals stated that they were hugely saddened at what happened.

Speaking to Newstalk, a number of residents stated that the area presents a real danger and some action needs to be taken to prevent further accidents:

"There was another child killed down there, a couple of years ago," said one man. "It should be hired, it shouldn't be left like that".