GARDAÍ in Mayo say that their investigation into the murder of elderly shopkeeper Eddie Fitzmaurice 10 years ago this week is still active.
A renewed appeal for information was issued by the Garda yesterday, on the 10th anniversary of Mr Fitzmaurice's death and several days after criticisms expressed by the late draper's family.
His granddaughter Audrey Snee, who lives in Britain, said earlier this week that the family had been left with many unanswered questions.
Family members were "especially aggrieved by the lack of information from the authorities, who have effectively abandoned us leaving us to find out everything about the case from news reports repeated to us by friends and family," she said.
"It's been 10 years, 200 suspects questioned, 14 arrests, but to date, no one has been tried for the murder of my grandfather," Ms Snee said.
Mr Fitzmaurice (83) died of hypothermia after he was robbed, assaulted, gagged and tied to a chair in the bedroom of his house at Bellaghy, Charlestown, on the Sligo-Mayo border in early May 1998. He had lived alone over his drapery shop and it was five days before his body was found by a neighbour on May 6th,1998.
Garda Supt William Keaveney, head of the continuing investigation, said that 59 people had been arrested and questioned and 830 statements had been taken.
The investigation had been "positive and proactive," he said, and had generated 900 lines of inquiry. More than 1,000 questionnaires had been completed by members of the public, he said.
The aftermath "still haunts the community and the extended family of the victim," he said, issuing a fresh appeal for help and information.
"We are satisfied that the information we need is out there and we earnestly hope that, even at this late stage, this appeal will jog some person's conscience and they will make the right decision and speak to us," he said.
Describing Mr Fitzmaurice as a man who was liked and respected in his community, and who had carried out his daily business in a "gentle, inoffensive manner", Supt Keaveney acknowledged that it had been "a long and difficult 10 years for the extended Fitzmaurice family and the only relief they will get is when the perpetrators face justice for their actions.
"It is never too late to make the right decision. If you have information, come and speak to us now," he said. Gardaí at Swinford can be contacted at 094 925 2999 and the Garda confidential freephone number is 1800 666 111.