Killing was not drug related and not linked to any feud, say gardaí
Christine Newman
Five people were still being held last night in Garda stations in Dublin in connection with the murder of a young mother in Coolock early on Sunday morning.
Donna Cleary (22) had been attending a 40th birthday party at a house on Adare Green, Coolock. At 2am, three or four men were refused admission to the party and said they would return.
About half an hour later, six shots were fired at the front of the house by at least one of the men.
Ms Cleary was shot while in the hall, and died shortly after 4.30am in Beaumont hospital.
Ms Cleary's son Clayton will be three in May. She lived with her family in Castlekevin Road, Kilmore, close to the house where the shooting took place.
The murder has left the local community and employees at Ms Cleary's workplace in shock.
More floral tributes were left outside the house on Adare Green yesterday where the fatal shooting occurred. Prayers were said for Ms Cleary and her family in local churches.
At the church of St Luke the Evangelist, Kilmore West, Fr Patrick Littleton said he had met the family: "They're just coping. It is such a huge tragedy."
He said the whole community was shocked.
"It is such a close-knit community and quite a number who came to the church would have known her and know the family. They are in a state of shock," Fr Littleton said.
Ms Cleary worked in the Bad Ass 49-Berth Cafe in the Dublin ferryport terminal.
While there was no official reaction from the head office at the Bad Ass Cafe in Crown Alley in the city centre, a fellow employee said it was a difficult day for everybody there and everyone was in shock.
Gardaí said Ms Cleary was a young mother from a very respected and hard-working family. The killing was not drug related and not linked to any feud.
Four men and a woman were arrested at a house in the Curragh, Co Kildare, at 11pm on Sunday in connection with the murder. Two of the detained are in their 20s and from the Finglas area, and a husband and wife are among those arrested.
They are being held in Santry, Whitehall and Coolock Garda stations. They are detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, which allows them to be held for up to three days.
A team of 50 detectives from local stations and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation have been assigned to the case.
Gardaí have appealed for taxi-drivers who drove customers from Inis Fáil GAA club in Balgriffin on Saturday night to the house party at Adare Green to come forward.
They are asking anyone with information to contact Coolock Garda station at 01-6664200.
Green Party justice spokesman Ciarán Cuffe yesterday called on Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to introduce an immediate gun amnesty.
"Such an amnesty could be implemented by launching a well-publicised fortnight during which weapons could be left into Garda stations on a 'don't ask, don't tell' basis," he said.
The shooting was a new low, local Fianna Fáil TD Seán Haughey said.
"This is a respectable, close-knit community full of decent, hard-working people and the killing of a local woman will have a huge impact on the area," Mr Haughey said .
He added that he had every confidence the team of detectives assigned to the case would bring their investigation to a successful conclusion.