Gardaí in Dundalk are preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions after a local man was seriously assaulted and died early on Christmas Eve morning.
Mr Laurence Garvey (59), Oliver Plunkett Park, received serious head and facial injuries when assaulted by a man in Patrick Street close to the town centre around 12.30 a.m.
Gardaí received a number of calls saying a man was being badly beaten.
Despite efforts by gardaí to give him medical aid at the scene before the emergency medical technicians arrived, the man was pronounced dead at the Louth County Hospital shortly after.
Mr Garvey, who was married, is believed to have witnessed an altercation in a pub earlier in the night. Gardaí are investigating a link between this and the assault in Patrick Street. There is no suggestion that Mr Garvey was involved in the altercation.
A 30-year-old man from the town was arrested and questioned about the assault but later released without charge.