Gardaí were continuing to investigate the murders of a well-known publican and a former employee of his in west Waterford at the weekend.
Mr Mossie Curran, aged about 50, was shot dead following a scuffle in his pub, the Decies Bar, in Clashmore early on Saturday. His body was found on the street by a group of people returning home from a night out.
Shortly afterwards the body of Ms Joan Power (40), a mother of three, was discovered at her home in Kinsale Beg, about five miles from where Mr Curran was shot. She had been stabbed in the chest.
Gardaí believe Mr Curran was killed with a shotgun just before 3 a.m. and that the two incidents are connected.
Investigations were continuing yesterday to determine whether Ms Power was stabbed before or after the shooting.
The double murder sparked a major Garda search operation assisted by an Aer Corps helicopter from Waterford.
Throughout the search on Saturday morning, gardaí were in mobile phone contact with a man in his 40s. He was arrested at Goaten Bay, Ardmore, at 11.15 a.m. and a legally held shotgun was recovered. The man was questioned under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and his period of detention was extended yesterday morning by 24 hours.
Supt Michael Blake of Dungarvan said Mr Curran was discovered on the street close to his pub by a group returning from a night out in Youghal, Co Cork, at about 3.05 a.m. They raised the alarm and gardaí from Lismore went to the scene, where Mr Curran was pronounced dead.
The publican, who was married with two grown-up daughters and a 14-year-old son, had earlier attended a darts match in Lismore. It is believed he was alone in his pub when confronted by a man some time before 3 a.m. A woman later told gardaí she had heard three shots fired at 2.58 a.m.
It is understood Mr Curran was shot twice while on the premises and a third time on the street. There were indications that a scuffle had taken place in the pub.
Some time after the incident, a man phoned Youghal Garda station alerting them to the presence of a woman's body at a house in Kinsale Beg. They went to Ms Power's home, a bungalow on a quiet road off the main Waterford-Cork road, and discovered her body. As well as a stab wound to the chest, she appeared to have been beaten.
None of her three children, Marie (20), John (19) or Gemma (14) had stayed in the house on Friday night. Marie and John work away from home while Gemma was staying at a family friend's house in Dungarvan.
Ms Power had most recently worked in a butcher's shop in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, and had in the past been employed in Mr Curran's pub. She is also survived by her husband, Mr Declan Power.
Mr Curran is survived by his wife, Veronica, their daughters Eimear and Deirdre and son, Darragh (14).
The couple's violent deaths caused deep shock in the neighbouring communities. Mr Curran was well known in the area through his involvement in a number of social and business activities. Up to his death he was Waterford chairman of the Vintners Federation of Ireland and was president of the West Waterford golf club.
He was also a committee member of the Clashmore-Kinsale Beg GAA club and its main sponsor, and he played as a goalkeeper for the club in two Waterford senior county finals in the 1970s. He had owned the Decies Bar for about 10 years and before that worked for Waterford Crystal.
Father Maurice O'Gorman, the parish priest of Clashmore, said prayers were offered for Ms Power and Mr Curran, and their families, at all Masses in the parish yesterday. "I just said that an awful lot of people had been affected and all we could do was pray for them all."
Post-mortem examinations were carried out yesterday at Waterford Regional Hospital by the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison.
