Lynn Hutchinson, the mother of 16-year-old Ciara Gibbs from Goresbridge, Kilkenny, is currently in St Patrick's Hospital in Dublin after being found in a collapsed state when Ciara's body was discovered in the family home last November.

Hutchinson, who worked as a locum psychiatrist in the Carlow-Kilkenny area, is suffering from manic depression.

She is regarded by doctors as being extremely ill and will not be allowed to return home at any time soon.

Garda sources say that while many unanswered questions remain about the tragic death of Ciara they currently have no plans to upgrade the investigation into a murder inquiry.

Toxicology results have found that there were no drugs or alcohol found in Ciara's body.

Detectives believe that Hutchinson was present in the bathroom when her daughter died and have travelled to St Patrick's on a number of occasions to interview her. She has fully cooperated with the investigation but her illness means that she can only speak for short periods.

Garda� are hopeful that as her condition improves she will be able to shed light on exactly what happened to the pupil of Loreto Convent in Kilkenny.

When contacted last week Ciara's father, Gerard Gibbs, an avionics lecturer in Carlow IT, did not wish to comment on the case.

He discovered Ciara's body after returning from a trip to Kilcash, Co Tipperary with his 14-year-old son.

Ciara's body was found at the door leading into a bedroom in the upstairs of the house while her mother was drifting in an out of consciousness on the bed. Both women were covered in water.

Despite frantically attempting to resuscitate Ciara she died at the scene.

A garda source said they are making progress in their investigation: "There are still a lot of questions to be answered in relation to Ciara Gibbs' death but we will not be upgrading the investigation.

Her mother is quite ill in Dublin and we have spoken to her on several occasions at this stage.

"She has spoken openly to us but we have to bear in mind that her doctors regard her as a sick woman and tell us that she will be in hospital for the foreseeable future. We will just have to wait and see what happens."

The mysterious death of Ciara Gibbs continues to shock the closeknit Kilkenny communities in Goresbridge, Gowran and Paulstown.

Most locals declined to talk about the tragedy at the request of the Gibbs family and those who would talk said the family were not wellknown and kept themselves to themselves, although they were friendly.

The family lived in Kilkenny for less than two years and previously resided in Dublin.

Ciara's schoolmates in Loreto are continuing to get counselling as and when the need arises.

The school's principal Helen Renehan declined to go into details of Ciara's drowning except to say that her pupils were getting all the support they required.

Ciara was a popular and extremely bright pupil who achieved 10 As in her Junior Certificate the year before she died. She was in Dublin on the day of her tragic death to prepare for Irish Maths Olympics which are due to take place in May. It had been expected that she would qualify for the tournament.