His death is not being treated as suspicious after the discovery was made in a house in Sallynoggin on Wednesday.
Council workers initially found a grenade in the property, before later coming across the decomposed body.
Conor Lally, security and crime editor with the Irish Times, say the elderly man kept to himself:
"So at this stage really the Guards are just trying to piece together when he was last seen alive, when people last spoke to him, but as I say foul play has been ruled out and at this point in time, they're just you know, treating the whole episode as a very sad and tragic case."
