GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the murder of a suspected drug dealer in Cork last week are examining whether the discovery of more than €30,000 in cash in a premises being rented by the man may be linked to his killing.
Darren Falsey (36), a native of Waterfall on the outskirts of Cork city, was shot dead when he went to answer a call at his rented house at Ashbourne Court on Ferney Road in Carrigaline last Wednesday afternoon.
Gardaí suspected him of being a significant supplier of cocaine and cannabis on the Cork drug scene for much of the past decade.
Mr Falsey, who was living with his partner Lorraine Conroy and her eight-year-old son but who had two children from a previous relationship, was buried yesterday following a funeral Mass in Ballinora near Waterfall. It was attended by close family and friends.
As part of the investigation,gardaí recovered more than €30,000 in cash from a freezer in a rented lock-up premises in the Riverstick area where Mr Falsey, a keen huntsman, kept a number of dogs.
Gardaí believe Mr Falsey usually did not owe any major sums of money to his drug suppliers as he generally did not allow any debts to accumulate. They are puzzled as to why he would have kept so much cash.
Gardaí are still keeping an open mind on a possible motive for the murder and are continuing to explore at least three theories as to why he was killed.
These include the possibilities he was killed because he either owed money or was owed money by others in the drugs trade.
They are also considering that he may have been killed by the Real IRA, which has claimed responsibility for shooting dead two drug dealers and the paralysing of a third in a shooting in Cork over the past 10 years.