Gardaí name murdered woman

Gardaí investigating the murder of a woman in Dublin city centre tonight named the victim as Rosemary Dowling.

The naked body of Ms Dowling, of Home Villas in Donnybrook, was found wrapped in a duvet, tied with a piece of rope, at about 4.15am on Tuesday on the corner of Mercer Street and Aungier Place.

A post-mortem examination of the middle-aged woman showed she died of severe head injuries.

Earlier today a man in his mid-50s was arrested in connection with her death and was being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Harcourt Terrace Garda Station, a spokesman said.

Ms Dowling is believed to have run a shop in the area her body was found. Star CDs on Aungier Street has not been opened for several days.

Superintendent PJ Brown, who is leading the murder investigation, has said he is confident the victim was killed elsewhere and dumped at the site some time between 2am and 4.15am.

Today there were floral tributes laid at the scene where she was discovered.

One local resident, Bridie Clemenger, said the murdered woman was a mother-of-two, and described her as “brilliant”.

“You’d never pass without saying how are you, she’d be sitting on the chair, and one day she gave me a lot of lovely clothes – somebody had left them and she knew they’d fit me and that’s the gospel truth.

“I cried when I heard it was her this morning, I cried my eyes out.

“I heard it was her from a neighbour, from her description, and the grey hair and her age and she hadn’t opened her shop,” she told RTÉ Radio.

“She’d always go to the end of the shop to find your video for you, and sometimes she wouldn’t even charge you,” she added.