GARDAí are investigating the tragic circumstances in which a 13-year-old boy took his own life with a legally-held shotgun.

The youngster is understood to have been disciplined at school in the days leading up to the tragedy after he was found with a mobile phone in class.

He was found dead on 17 November with what app­eared to have been a shotgun wound, which was believed to have been inflicted with a licenced weapon.

Gardaí said they were treating the incident as a "desperate tragedy" and that an inquest would take place in due course.

Local sources say that the youngster was upset and embarrassed about the incident in school, after which a note is believed to have been sent home to his family. He managed to get hold of the firearm which was registered to his father. He was subsequently found dead by a family member.

His family and the small parish where he came from are said to be absolutely numbed and devastated by the terrible tragedy.

The young boy was buried last Friday week following a funeral ceremony at his local church in Co Tipperary. He had turned 13 in September.

A family friend said that the youngster had been a keen GAA player, who loved hurling, football, cycling and pony riding.

They said his death had been entirely unexpected and there was nothing to point towards the tragedy in the months leading up to what happened.

It is expected that counselling services will be offered to his classmates and friends to help them overcome their recent trauma. Gardaí are not seeking anyone else in relation to the tragedy and it is expected that more information will be made available at the inquest.

The tragedy brings home the reality of teen suicide, less than six months after it emerged that seven youths in a small geographical area had taken their own lives.

The tragic deaths began last summer when a 17-year-old girl in Kilcock, Co Kildare died. Four months later, a 13-year-old girl at the same school died. In December, a 17-year-old Leaving Cert student at Maynooth Post Primary School died while a 12-year-old from the same school died in April.

Then in a short two-week period in May, three other girls killed themselves: a 13-year-old at Scoil Cois Life in Lucan, Co Dublin, a 12-year-old at North Kildare Educate Together and an 18-year-old girl in Kells, Co Meath.