IRELAND has been stunned by the deaths of a family of four in what Gardai (police) believe was a murder and suicide massacre.The bodies of popular businessman and sportsman Diarmuid Flood and his wife Lorraine, a former Rose of Tralee finalist, and those of their children, six-year-old Mark and five-year-old Julie, were found in their burned out home.Flood, who was aged 41, and his 38-year-old wife had gunshot wounds. Detectives said the children had not been shot and there were no signs of other physical injuries.Flood is believed to have murdered his children by means a post mortem has still to positively establish, and also his wife, whose body had shotgun wounds. There was also evidence that Flood then shot himself after setting fire to the house.The deaths at the family's home in Clonroche, Co. Wexford, had echoes of a similar murder-suicide tragedy which claimed the lives of Adrian and Ciara Dunne and their two children, five-year-old Leanne and three-year-old Shania, less than 13 miles away in the village of Monageer exactly a year ago this week.Adrian was originally from Clonroche and his widowed mother and other members of his family still live there.Although an official report has yet to be published on a government inquiry into the Dunne deaths, it's believed the children were killed by one or both parents before they also died.Detectives are mystified by the apparent copy-cat tragedy involving the Flood family, for whom life seemed to be extraordinarily good.Diarmuid and Lorraine Flood were directors of their own successful water filtration business. He was from a well-known GAA family and she was a fitness instructor who represented Waterford in the Rose of Tralee competition in 1991. She also was a former winner of the "Strawberry Fair" beauty pageant held annually in nearby Enniscorthy.Initial investigations uncovered nothing that might indicate a family in crisis. There appeared to be no money worries, relationship difficulties, substance abuses or any history of mental illness.Lorraine's body was found in bed in the couple's upstairs bedroom. Her husband's remains were found in one of the reception rooms downstairs. Julie was found in her bed while Mark was on the landing of the house.A shotgun owned by a friend but which had been in the house since it was given on loan to Diarmuid Flood some years ago was found at the scene.During special prayers for the family and their relatives at Sunday Mass in the local St. Clement's Catholic Church in Cloughbawn, Father Richard Redmond said the deaths had given the community "heavy hearts and a great sense of sadness."Counseling services were offered to children in Clonroche National School where little Mark and Julie were pupils.School principal Norma Doyle described the dead youngsters as "beautiful and bubbly" and said the entire community was struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.Local TD (member of Parliament) Brendan Howlin said, "People are absolutely awe-struck and shocked."Catholic Bishop Denis Brennan of Ferns, the diocese in which the deaths occurred, said, "Across the nation thoughts and prayers are turning to Clonroche, to the parents and children who have died and the harrowing effects on those family members, neighbors and friends who have received this dreadful news."Many recalled the family's strong sporting links on both sides.Diarmuid Flood's uncle, Tim Flood, was on the successful Wexford hurling teams of the fifties and sixties and his cousin, Sean Flood, won an all-Ireland medal in 1996. A minute's silence was observed by the crowd at the Wexford-Fermanagh National Football League match in Parnell Park in Dublin on Sunday.Lorraine Flood's aunts were highly-regarded camogie players. Another relative, Kevin Doyle, is an Irish international soccer star who plays with English premiership side Reading.