GARDAÍ HAVE ISSUED a witness appeal concerning the death of a man in an incident last weekend in the Temple Bar area of Dublin.

As previously reported by The Journal, paramedics were called to the scene when a man in his 40s became unresponsive in the early hours of Sunday morning outside a nightclub at Essex Street East.

There were efforts to resuscitate the man but those efforts failed and he was pronounced dead a short time later.

It is understood that gardaí had been in contact with the man at the time of his death after they responded to a public order incident call.

Fiosrú, the Garda Ombudsman, was alerted to the incident by gardaí as the force must notify if someone suffers serious injury or death when they have been in contact with gardaí.

In a fresh statement today, the Garda Press Office said that Pearse Street gardaí are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a man in his 40s following the incident.

The investigation is being led by a Senior Investigating Officer based at the incident room in Pearse Street Garda Station.

Garda statement

A garda spokesperson outlined this afternoon that, shortly before 1am, gardaí on foot patrol responded to reports of a disturbance in the area where a man was being “restrained by security staff” outside a nightclub.

Gardaí detained the man but subsequently sought assistance from a nearby ambulance crew as the man appeared “unwell” to the responding officers.

“The male was taken to St James’s Hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased,” a garda spokesperson continued.

The coroner has been notified and a post-mortem examination has been carried out by the Office of the State Pathologist.

For operational reasons, gardaí will not release the preliminary results of the post-mortem examination at this time.

“The scene has been forensically examined and local policing inquiries have been conducted,” the garda spokesperson said.

Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to come forward and have requested that anyone with video footage – including from a dashcam – between 12:30am and 1:30am at Essex Street East on Sunday 14 December to contact them.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Pearse Street Garda Station on (01) 666 9000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.

Policing ombudsman probe

On Monday, Fiosrú confirmed it was investigating after it received a referral from “a Garda Superintendent under section 203(1) of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024″.

“The referral was made following the death of a man following Garda contact in the Dublin Metropolitan Region. One of Fiosrú’s on call team of investigators attended the scene,” the policing ombudsman spokesperson said.

“As the matter is now under investigation, pursuant to section 208(1)(b) of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, Fiosrú cannot make any further comment.”

With reporting by Niall O’Connor