An investigation has been launched into the death of a man in his late 40s whose body was found in a house in Skibbereen in West Cork early this morning.

Gardaí say that they are treating the death of the English national as suspicious pending the outcome of a technical examination and post-mortem later today.

The man's body was found at around 9am by the man's partner in the living room area of the house that they were renting at High Street.

The emergency services were called and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gardaí have cordoned off the area, and the services of both the Garda Technical Bureau and the State Pathologist have been requested.

The man has a number of injuries, but gardaí have not discounted the possibility that he may have fallen.

They are hoping the post-mortem will establish exactly how he died.

A preliminary examination of the scene revealed no sign of forced entry, even though there was some disarray in the house.

The man, who has been living in West Cork for many years, has only been living in the rented two-storey terraced house for a number of months.