A MAN is on a life-support machine after he was attacked by a gang on his way to work at the weekend.
Members of the gang had been drinking all night, it is understood, and punched and kicked the victim into a coma.
Gardaí are trying to establish if an iron bar or other implements were used by the gang that carried out the early-morning attack in Coolock, north Dublin.
The victim, a 27-year-old Polish man, was on his way to begin working at 5am on Saturday in a fish processing plant when he was attacked, sustaining near-fatal head injuries.
He has been on a life-support machine since the assault and his family in Poland have been told by medical staff he is gravely ill. Some family members travelled from Poland yesterday to be at his bedside.
Gardaí believe they know the identities of the men who were at the scene and either witnessed the gang attack or participated in it.
A number of houses in the Coolock area were searched on Saturday and yesterday. Gardaí confiscated clothing and footwear they believe was worn by the attackers.
These items are now being analysed by members of the Garda Technical Bureau in the hope they may yield evidence linking the suspects to the attack.
The assault occurred between 4am and 5am at the Newtown industrial estate, just off the Malahide Road near the Darndale roundabout.
The victim, who lives in nearby Clarehall with his partner, was walking to his place of work at Kish Fish for his 5am shift start when he was set upon by the attackers in what appears to have been a random incident.
Gardaí believe the attackers are local men in their 20s and late teens. They are investigating the possibility that they probably intended to rob the victim before the attack escalated.
Another man going to work in the area found the victim on the ground at about 5am. The emergency services were alerted and the injured man was taken to Beaumont Hospital.
The area where the attack happened was sealed off for a forensic examination.
On Saturday night, gardaí arrested a man in his early 20s. He is from Coolock and is known to them. Another man in his late teens was arrested last night.
The men are being questioned under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Raheny and Swords Garda stations.
Some of the suspects for the attack, who are members of a large extended family from Coolock, have previously been before the courts in relation to drink-fuelled public disorder and violent assaults.
A major investigation into Saturday's attack has begun with a large team of gardaí attending a case conference at Coolock Garda station yesterday.
CCTV footage from a number of premises on the Newtown industrial estate is being studied.
Gardaí have appealed for anyone who was in the Newtown industrial estate, or driving along the adjacent stretch of Malahide Road between 4am and 5am on Saturday to contact them.
Detectives are particularly keen to speak to delivery men who may have been in the area and may have seen the suspects, or taxi drivers who may have carried passengers to or from the area around the time of the attack.
