A funeral service is underway for two of the three family members found dead at a farm near Kanturk, County Cork this week.

59-year-old Tadg O'Sullivan and his 23-year-old son Diarmuid were found dead in a field on the family farm on Monday.

Eldest son Mark O’Sullivan (26) was found dead in a bedroom in the family farmhouse.

Gardaí are investigating whether the deaths were the result of a murder suicide related to a dispute over land inheritance.

It is believed Mark was shot in his bedroom early in the morning before Tadg and Diarmuid shot themselves in the nearby field a short time later.

Speaking at the funeral mass for Tadg and Diarmuid at Saint Mary’s Church in Castlemagner this afternoon, Father Toby Bluitt described the deaths as, “untimely, shocking and tragic.”

“We gather in such grief today,” he said. “Carrying a burden that not only seems to be, but in fact is, overwhelming. We gather to comfort and support each other in our common loss.

“We gather to make sense of the senseless.”

Father and son

Fr Bluitt described Tadg O’Sullivan, who had worked as a mechanic in the local area for nearly 40 years, as “accommodating, friendly and happy in his chosen field.”

He said Diarmuid went to school in Ballyhass and Kanturk and often socialised in Castlemagner.

He studied accountancy Cork Institute of Technology and was due to be conferred next week.

“There are no answers”

“One would imagine that life was full of possibilities for him,” he said.

“One could also say that both Tadg and Diarmuid touched many people’s lives along the way as they journeyed through life.

“Their lives and deaths have changed you all and you will never be the same again.

“So today, gathered together in our grief, we do not minimise the loss of their lives by trying to provide easy answers.

“Because there are no answers.”

The funeral mass for Mark O’Sullivan will be held at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Kanturk at 3:30pm on Saturday.

The mass will be held in accordance with COVID-19 guidelines and is open to family members only. It will be streamed to the public online.

The family has requested that only family send flowers with donations to the Jack and Jill Foundation welcome.