Three men were arrested in Galway this morning as part of the investigation into the murder of Oughterard school teacher and publican John Kenny.
One man is 17 and the other two are in their 20s and 30s.
They were arrested in the Galway area following planned searches by gardaí.
They are being held at Galway Garda station on Mill Street under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act ( 2) and Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act (1).
Gardaí later arrested a fourth suspect in connection with Mr Kenny’s murder. The 29-year-old man was arrested in the Galway area and is being held at Tuam Garda station under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
A fifth man was remanded in custody on Sunday charged with withholding information in relation to the case.
Florin Fitzpatrick (37), with a former rental address at The Green, College Road, Galway, appeared before a special sitting of Galway District Court on Sunday.
He is charged with withholding information from the Garda between September 25th and October 1st, which he knew or believed might be of assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of any other person, in relation to the unlawful death of Mr Kenny (56) at his pub at Main Street, Oughterard.
Det Sgt Tom Molloy gave evidence of arresting the former security guard at Galway bus station at 8.19pm on Saturday and of charging him at Mill Street Garda station half an hour later. He said Mr Fitzpatrick replied “No” when the charge was put to him.
Gda Supt Noel Kelly objected to bail due to the seriousness of the charge and because he believed the man posed a flight risk.
Defence solicitor Valerie Corcoran said her client was Romanian. He had lived in Ireland for 10 years and had worked at Galway bus station for seven years. He had been married to an Irish woman for five years and had two Irish children but was now separated.
Judge Mary Fahy refused bail and she remanded him in custody to appear before Harristown District Court next Friday, for directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr Kenny’s body was found on September 25th on the floor of a room in his pub, with his hands tied behind his back. It is believed he died some time late on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday morning.
A postmortem by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy established his death was the result of an assault.