Police investigate claims that a dead man was taken into a post office in a bid to collect his pension

An investigation was underway in Ireland on Monday after claims that a dead man was taken to a post office by men attempting to collect his pension. Weekend newspapers said two men were suspected of carrying the dead man into a small shop, which doubles as a post office, in Carlow, southeast of the capital Dublin, on Friday morning.

One of them told the Sunday World newspaper: "He was alive when we left the house."

The pair were quoted as saying they asked post office staff beforehand if they could collect the man's pension on his behalf as he was ill, but they were refused.

"We sort of had to lift him up and bring him the whole way down to the post office, but sure he never even got the chance to get his money," one of them said.

They strongly denied claims the man had died elsewhere.

"He probably died in the post office — at the ice cream freezer, I'd say that's where he dropped off," one of them said.

A post-mortem examination on the man, reportedly aged 66, is understood to have ruled out any foul play.

"The focus of Garda [police] enquiries is now on the ancillary events that took place at the business premises connected to the recent death of the male," police said in a statement Monday.

The Irish Times said the dead man lived only about 550 yards from the post office, and police were studying "what condition" he was in as he was taken from the house to the shop.

A death notice published online on Saturday said the man died "suddenly" and his funeral took place on Monday.