Gardaí investigating the murder of Donegal-born journalist Eugene Moloney in Dublin at the weekend have arrested two people.
Two men were arrested in the early hours of this morning in south Dublin.
The men, who are in their 20s, are being detained at Kevin Street and Pearse Street Garda Stations under the provisions of section 4 of the Criminal Act 1984.
Eugene, who had worked for the Irish Independent, was originally from Fahan, Co Donegal.
He often visited friends and relatives in the county and never lost touch with his roots here, despite growing up in Belfast where he went on to work for the Irish News.
He later joined the Evening Herald and then the Irish Independent.
His brother Sean, who still lives in Fahan, has travelled to Dublin. His sister Roisin, a solictor in Belfast, has also travelled to the capital.
Mr Maloney’s mother Peggy died five years ago and is buried in Fahan. Her maiden name was Flanagan and she was originally from Derry. The dead man’s cousins run the Flanagan furniture company in Buncrana.
He had been in Dublin city centre with friends on Saturday night and was returning to his home in Portobello, south Dublin, when he was attacked. He was found collapsed at the junction of Lower Camden Street and Pleasants Street, at pedestrian traffic lights outside Devitt’s Pub just before 4.30am.
A nurse who was in the area at the time attended to him as gardaí and an ambulance made their way to the area. When they arrived Mr Moloney was treated at the scene for a short period by the paramedics before being taken by ambulance to St James’s Hospital. He had suffered serious head injuries and efforts to save him failed. He was pronounced dead a short time after arriving at the hospital.
He was out on Saturday night and when making his way home was punched in the head after words were exchanged with a number of people on the street at the spot where he was found. He fell to the ground when he was struck and the injuries he sustained to the head proved fatal.
The area where the incident occurred is a busy nightlife spot in the heart of the south inner city and is well covered by CCTV cameras. Footage from cameras in the area was being studied last night.
Mr Moloney worked with the Irish Independent for more than 20 years before taking a redundancy package a number of years ago and travelling in Europe and in southeast Asia. He recently moved back to Dublin and was working for the Daily Mail newspaper as a freelance writer.
