Gardai are not investigating the fire with a view to bringing criminal proceedings but say that it could have been avoided if people didn't dump rubbish illegally at the site.

The owner of the unoccupied building on the Lower Dargle Road employed two welders to seal a door at the front of the premises last Wednesday because people were trespassing and using the site to dump rubbish.

The two workers completed their job and, unknown to them, sparks from the welding equipment ignited a pile of rubbish nearby. It took around 30 minutes for the fire to develop.

The welders are said to be devastated over the fire but garda sources stress that nobody was to blame for the tragic accident.

It now appears that part-time firefighters Brian Murray (46) and his 26year-old colleague Mark O'Shaughnessy did not die when the roof of the building collapsed on them, as had been reported, but lost their lives when the intense heat caused a backdraft when the door of the building was opened.

The backdraft knocked both men off their feet and killed them. Post mortems carried out on the bodies found that there was no smoke in either men's lungs.

Brian Murray's daughter has criticised the Taoiseach for claiming that her father would have lost his life even if there had been a full-time fire service operating in Bray. Joanne Murray said: "The Taoiseach has really insulted my family. We won't let this go now. We want a full-time fire service and we want justice for our father."

The removal of Mark O'Shaughnessy took place in Bray yesterday afternoon, while the removal of Brian Murray will take place tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the full-time firefighters committee of Siptu, Brian Murray (no relation to the deceased firefighter), has accused the Government of failing to act on a 2003 report on the fire service which recommended that each fire authority in the country should complete a risk analysis of all fire hazards in the area so that the fire service can know what cover is required and what they can expect if there is a fire.

"Nothing has happened, " said Murray, who suggested that the Government was afraid that such an analysis would expose how inadequate fire cover is across the country. He added that, if the Bray fire had happened 50 metres up the road in the Dun Laoghaire area, which has a fulltime fire service, two fire engines with thirteen firefighters and officers including eight paramedics would have been deployed. A hydraulic lift would also have been dispatched allowing the firemen to tackle the blaze over the roof and the outcome could have been different, Murray claimed.

"There are serious questions to be asked about the Bray tragedy. How many firefighters were dispatched to the fire and more critically, how many could have been sent? How long were they waiting for an ambulance? Were the part-time firefighters properly trained or more pointedly, were the trainers properly trained?" he asked.

Siptu has now called for an independent investigation into the Bray fire, possible by the UK fire service, as he said that neither the Health and Safety Authority nor Wicklow County Council "have the competencies needed to investigate this tragedy."

"Given the circumstances, it is inappropriate for a body such as the HSA or Wicklow County council to investigate this tragedy when it has the potential to reflect badly on statutory agencies and the government itself, " he said.

Retained or part-time firefighters are paid an annual 'retainer' of up to 10,000. In addition, when called out they get 40 for the first hour and 20 an hour thereafter, with double that if the call-out is at night or weekends.