A senior Wicklow County Council official was released from Garda custody today after being arrested over a blaze which claimed the lives of two firefighters.
It is understood the man was detained at Bray Garda station yesterday after arriving by appointment for questioning over the fire in a disused building in September 2007.
Gardaí said he was released in the early hours of this morning without charge. A file is to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He was being questioned under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and could have been held for up to 24 hours. It is understood the official has been questioned twice before under caution by gardaí.
Part-time firefighters Mark O’Shaughnessy (26), and Brian Murray (46), died in the fire when the roof of the abandoned building on Lower Dargle Road in Bray collapsed on them.
Four people have been questioned over the blaze, including at least one senior fire officer.
In late February the offices of Wicklow County Council in Wicklow Town were raided by gardaí investigating the deaths.
Mr Murray, a father of 13 children, was a sub-officer in Bray, second in charge of a station of 15 firefighters. His younger colleague, Mr O’Shaughnessy, was single. The inquest into the men’s deaths has been adjourned several times to give gardaí more time to investigate.
Concerns were raised by the men's families that the two part-time firemen had been alone when trying to bring the fire under control. The families claim there was a delay in responding to the fire, as it was out of control by the time fire crews arrived. They believe this was a major factor in the men's deaths.
Before it was adjourned, a brief hearing of the inquest in November 2008 was told that Mr Murray had raised safety concerns not long before his death.
He wrote to a senior fire service official three weeks before his death after office workers were asked to check a fire themselves before the fire service was called out.
The Garda investigation is running in tandem with a Health and Safety Authority investigation. Under consideration are a number of issues around the men's training and the equipment with which they had been issued.
The resourcing and administration of the fire service is also being examined.
The men's families have called for an independent inquiry into the deaths and total reform of fire services throughout the country.
The families have also hired consultants to examine the case.