Gardaí are hopeful that charges will be brought over the killing of a man who was assaulted in inner-city Dublin six months ago and died on Monday.
Anthony Byrne (37), originally from the Dublin suburb of Drimnagh, was attacked by a group of men armed with sticks or wooden batons as he left the Mercer St flats, near St Stephen's Green, on January 18th this year.
Mr Byrne, who was living in the flats, was knocked to the ground and severely beaten in an attack that lasted for several minutes, say gardaí.
He was attacked just before midnight and gardaí believe the assault or the attackers may have been witnessed by taxi drivers who were in the area at the time.
They have asked for anyone with information to contact them.
The investigation has been progressing well. A number of suspects were identified and they have been arrested and interviewed during recent months.
Gardaí from Harcourt Terrace Garda station have forwarded a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The DPP has had the file for some time and will make a decision on whether or not the evidence is strong enough to justify laying charges over Mr Byrne's death. A Garda source said he was hopeful charges will be laid.
"The investigating officers are very happy with the way the investigation went," he said.
Mr Byrne was taken to St James's Hospital after the assault and died there on July 9th.
A postmortem was conducted yesterday but gardaí do not expect to glean much more information, given the amount of time elapsed between the assault and Mr Byrne's death.
Central Statistics Office figures show the rate of murder and manslaughter across the State is increasing slightly.
Last year, 66 people were victims of murder or manslaughter; while in 2005, 62 people died as a result of these crimes.