Gardaí made arrests in the Dublin lane where the body of Paul McQuaid was discovered the week he was reported missing, it emerged today.
Glendenning Lane, offWicklow Street, where Mr McQuaid’s body was found on Wednesday, is regularly patrolled by gardaí.
However, the Garda today denied a newspaper report stating a search was not carried out following Mr McQuaid’s disappearance. His body was discovered over two weeks after he was reported missing following a night out at Judge Roy Bean’s nightclub in Nassau Street.
The lane in which Mr McQuaid was found is just a few hundred yards from the nightclub where he was last seen.
This morning's Irish Timesreported Garda sources saying that a search was not conducted following the report of Mr McQuaid's disappearance because of the cost involved.
The report claimed the cost of searching for another recently disappeared young man, Mr Trevor Deeley, in similar circumstances, had informed the decision not to conduct a search.
This afternoon a Garda spokesman told ireland.comit was "absolutely not correct that financial considerations were involved" in the Garda investigationinto Mr McQuaid's disappearance.
However, Inspector Simon O’Connor of the Garda Press Office said: "the search was carried out by normal day patrols" as part of their usual duties. He said gardaí were in the vicinity of where Mr McQuaid’s body was found all the time.
Insp O’Connor said that each case was treated on its merits. He said up to 15 gardaí from Clontarf where involved in the investigation and that pictures from closed circuit television cameras were being examined.
Patrons at Judge Roy Beans nightclub were addressed by gardaí over the microphone as part of the investigation.