The trainee manager with Jurys Doyle Hotel Group who died from shotgun wounds in Limerick on Saturday was murdered during a robbery at the hotel, it emerged yesterday.
A Garda source confirmed that officers investigating the murder of Ms Gráinne Dillon (24), at Jurys Inn, Limerick, found a sum of money, and discovered that a safe on the premises had been interfered with.
A hotel employee is being questioned about the incident, and his detention period was extended yesterday by a further 24 hours.
He is being questioned under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, on suspicion of the unauthorised possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
He was arrested on Saturday following the discovery of the body of Ms Dillon in the kitchen of Jurys Inn in Limerick's city centre shortly after 5.40 a.m. on Saturday.
She had been on night management duties.
A shotgun, believed to have been the murder weapon, was retrieved from the immediate area of the hotel.
The woman's body was found slumped in a chair in the kitchen area. She had received multiple wounds after a shotgun was discharged a number of times in the attack. Supt Tony Kennelly of Henry Street Garda station described the attack as "brutal".
"She was a totally innocent victim carrying out her duties. We are following a definite line of inquiry," he said.
Ms Dillon came from a prominent business family who live in the village of Glounthane outside Cork.
She was one of a family of five who had studied in Limerick before going into hotel management. She had been employed by Jury's for six months.
A spokesman for the Jurys Doyle Hotel Group said the management and staff wished to extended their sympathy to Ms Dillon's family.
"Her death has caused profound grief and shock to all who knew and worked with her and she will be greatly missed," he said.
The hotel remained closed until this morning after the 280 guests were questioned as part of the murder investigation.
They were relocated to other hotels in the city on Saturday.
Among the guests staying on Friday night were members of the Harlequins rugby team who had travelled from London to play a match against Munster at the city's Thomond Park.