An emotional Taoiseach Enda Kenny voiced his distress at the discovery of the bodies of a Mayo mother and her seven-year-old son whom he personally knew last night, saying news of the incident “went through me”, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith, Political Correspondent in Brussels.

Speaking at the end of the European Council meeting in Brussels, the Fine Gael leader said he learned of what happened earlier in the day and was distraught by the deaths.

“I’m very sorry, I’m shocked actually. I know that family very well, and it’s a particular tragedy for that family, a very large family I know so well,” he said.

“When I got that message here in Brussels, I have to say it went through me.

“Because when people you know so well, an incident or a tragedy like this is just… it leaves you in… a state of understanding that people face difficulties in their lives that you would never contemplate.”

Read: Irish woman and son, aged 7, found dead in London house

Britain’s Metropolitan police yesterday confirmed that the bodies of Mayo woman Sinead Higgins and her seven-year-old son Oisin O Driscoll had been found at their home in The Fairway, Ruislip, west London.

They had been called due to concerns about the boy and the 37-year-old woman’s welfare.

Police do not believe there was a third party involved.

At the time of her death the single mum owed thousands in county court judgments, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Ms Higgins had a county court judgement for €3,578.