The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, last night condemned the murder of an Irish engineer in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as a "cold-blooded attack on a civilian worker".
The Department of Foreign Affairs said that its officials in Riyadh were liaising with the Saudi authorities but declined to be drawn on whether the Government believed that Galway-born Anthony Higgins had been killed in a terrorist attack in the capital, Riyadh.
Nearly 100 foreign nationals working in Saudi Arabia have been killed in recent months in a series of attacks carried out by militants.
Mr Cowen said that the killing of Mr Higgins, who worked for the Saudi-owned Rocky for Trade and Construction, was "repugnant and shocking and would be perceived so internationally".
According to a Saudi official, quoted by news agencies, Mr Higgins, the brother of well-known Galway poet Rita Ann Higgins, died after at least two armed men stormed the office of the Saudi construction company where he worked and began shooting.
A western diplomat, quoted by news agency AFP, said that 59-year-old Mr Higgins had been shot four times in the head and chest.
Mr Cowen in a statement said he wished to extend his sincere condolence on behalf of himself and the Government to the family of Mr Higgins.
"My thoughts are with them at this tragic time. A cold-blooded attack of this sort on a civilian worker such as Mr Higgins is repugnant and shocking and will be perceived so internationally.
"I expect that the Saudi authorities will do everything in their power to bring his killers to justice."
Meanwhile a leading member of the Irish community in Saudi said last night that Irish people living in the kingdom were devastated at the news of Mr Higgins' death.
Mr Charlie O'Sullivan, the president of the GAA in Riyadh, said Mr Higgins had been well known within the closely-knit Irish community.
When word of the killing of an Irishman had emerged, everyone began phoning everyone else.
Mr Higgins was the second Irish person to be killed violently in Saudi Arabia in the last two months.
BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers (36), from Navan, Co Meath, was shot and killed in early June while filming at the home of a Saudi militant in Riyadh.
Mr O'Sullivan said the Irish community was shocked by Mr Higgins' death. He had been living full-time in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade and was known to many of them.
Mr O'Sullivan said that many Irish citizens working in Saudi Arabia were currently on holidays and might decide not to return at the end of their leave.
There are around 1,200 Irish citizens living in Saudi Arabia.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Irish people not to travel to Saudi Arabia unless their visit is essential.
The Department has also warned Irish residents in the kingdom to keep a low profile.
