Man held over fatal stabbing

Gardaí tonight arrested a man in connection with the stabbing of a man near a hotel in Croke Park.

Martin McLoughlin, a building labourer from Dublin, became the first murder victim of 2006 after his celebrations on New Year’s Eve ended in tragedy.

A Garda spokesman said that the man in his 20s had been arrested shortly before 5pm today.

The man can be held for up to 12 hours under section four of the Criminal Justice Act.

It is understood that he had been in contact with detectives in the murder investigation for the past two days. He is currently being held at Mountjoy garda station.

Mr McLoughlin, 21, from Cherrywood Park in Clondalkin, was staying at the Jury’s Hotel in Croke Park with his girlfriend and a number of other couples. They had returned from celebrating New Year’s Eve in the city centre when a row broke out at around 4am.

He received a stab wound to the chest in a corridor in the hotel. He was rushed to the intensive care unit of Dublin’s Mater Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for the chest injury. But he died at 7am from the injuries he received.

Chief Supt Mick Feehan from Store Street Garda Station, who is heading the investigation, has said that detectives were following a definite line of enquiry.