Journalist killed in Dublin attack

A MAN killed on his way home from a night out socialising in the early hours of yesterday was journalist Eugene Moloney, who had worked for the Irish Independent.

Mr Moloney, who was in his 50s, was originally from Donegal but grew up in Belfast. 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.

Garda sources said 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.

Mr Moloney did not have any identification on him when he was found and it took most of yesterday to identify him. Once gardaí established his identity they began piecing together his last movements. 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.

Gardaí are following a number of lines of inquiry and are confident of making progress in their efforts to catch the attacker.

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.