Senior gardai believe sufficient evidence has been gathered by an internal inquiry to enable the culprit in the Grangegorman murders to be charged. The Garda has been investigating how Mr Dean Lyons came to be charged with the killings of the two female psychiatric patients.
Sources close to the internal inquiry say they are now satisfied there is a strong case for charging another man, who is in prison on separate serious charges.
Further charges can be brought only after Mr Lyons has been released and the charge against him of murdering one of the victims is withdrawn.
Mr Lyons (24), from Tallaght, has been in prison since July. He was charged with murdering Ms Mary Callinan (61), who was stabbed to death along with Ms Sylvia Shields (59). He was never charged with Ms Shields's murder. The two women were found dead, each from multiple stab wounds, on March 7th last year.
It had been anticipated that Mr Lyons would have been released earlier this week. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) applied for his further imprisonment for two weeks and the District Court assented to this.
No reason was given for Mr Lyons's further detention. He will remain in Mountjoy Prison until his next court appearance on March 24th.
Mr Lyons was charged on the basis of a statement which emerged after he was interrogated in the Bridewell Garda station for several hours on July 26th last year. This statement, which is understood to contain several extraordinary contradictions and discrepancies, may continue to be the subject of investigation after Mr Lyons is freed.
The second man who could eventually be charged with the double murder was questioned by gardai outside Dublin in relation to another serious offence. His statement contained details about the Grangegorman murders which were never made public.
After being charged with other serious offences and held in Mountjoy Prison, this man informed his solicitor last October that he wished to retract his statement.
In December he made what is described by prison sources as a half-hearted suicide attempt, and left a note saying he did not kill the women but had been walking past the house and saw a door open so he went in.
However, it is understood that since this another person has come forward to say the man gave him a very detailed account of killing the women.