Man still being held in Waterford investigation

A 25-YEAR-OLD man who was arrested on Sunday night in connection with the Waterford investigation is still being held at Tramore Garda Station. He can be questioned for up to seven days, under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

A Garda investigation into the events of Saturday night/Sunday morning is continuing.

Both men, who collapsed at about 5am at the house party in the Ballybeg estate, remained on life support last night.

As he headed off for a night out with his friends on Saturday, Kevin Doyle, aged 21, promised his mum Breda he wouldn’t make noise on his return home.

She received a phone call from another son shortly after 5am on Sunday to say that Kevin had fallen gravely ill. She has been in the hospital ever since with partner Sean Maher.

Kevin’s father, meanwhile, was yesterday understood to be making his way back from his home in Australia.

For operational reasons, gardaí are not revealing what was in the white substance, although it is understood there were at least two elements in the mixture, which is believed to have been ingested by a number of people in the early hours of Sunday morning.

It is understood Kevin Doyle and John Grey were not known to each other before Saturday night, but the groups they were socialising in came together through mutual acquaintances.

Last night, both men lay fighting for their lives in Waterford Regional Hospital after apparently taking drugs in the Grey household early on Sunday.

Meanwhile, John Grey, aged 23, marked a milestone in his younger brother’s life at the 21st birthday party with family and friends. John Grey’s sister Michelle said yesterday evening that the coming 10 hours would be “vital” as they waited for news.

Preliminary analysis of a white substance found in the house at Ballybeg revealed that it was not contaminated by any other toxic substances, according to Superintendent David Sheehan and he dismissed suggestions in some media outlets yesterday morning that horse tranquillisers may have been responsible for the illnesses suffered by people who attended the 21st birthday party.

The Grey family home at Ballybeg Square remains the subject of an intensive search by gardaí and is expected to be sealed off until tomorrow morning, at least, after local officers secured a court order yesterday.

“The house is designated a crime scene and will continue to be so,” said Supt Sheehan.

The trauma was compounded yesterday by the revelation that Kevin Doyle was last year struck by testicular cancer and had only recently started to make progress in his fight against the disease.

“All we can do now is pray,” said Michelle while another relative clutched a bottle of holy water: “We’re praying for the two of them.”

John had shown no improvement in his condition since falling into a coma on Sunday morning, she said.