A man in his late 30s remains in custody in Galway city in relation to the death of John Kenny, whose body was found on Sunday in his family’s licensed premises in Oughterard.
The 56-year-old publican and teacher’s hands had been tied.
The man was arrested yesterday evening and is being detained in Mill Street Garda station under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. He can be held for up to 72 hours.
Results of a postmortem carried out by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy showed Mr Kenny died as a result of an assault, according to gardaí.
Mr Kenny’s body was discovered on the ground floor of the family’s licensed premises in Oughterard on Sunday evening.
Mr Kenny was a teacher at Presentation College, Athenry. His daughter Gillian is on the staff at the school.
In a statement, Presentation College said it was with “deep regret” it had learned of the “untimely death of our friend and colleague”.
“Our thoughts lie with his family, especially his wife, Kathleen and his daughter, Gillian, who is also a colleague of ours in the school.
“John was a valued member of the teaching staff of Presentation College, Athenry, for the past 19 years. He was held in high esteem by staff, students and parents alike.
“He taught German, history and religion, and was heavily involved in the extra-curricular activities of the school, particularly soccer. The whole school community is deeply shocked and saddened at this time.
“We mourn the loss of a colleague and friend. The school is putting in place preparation to meet the pastoral care needs of the school community. We would ask that the privacy of the family would be respected at this traumatic time.”
Minister of State at the Department of Education Ciarán Cannon, who chairs the school’s parents’ association, said that he wished to express his sincere sympathy to the family and friends of Mr Kenny on behalf of the school parent body.
“A number of parents, and their children, would have been taught by John, and he was much respected and much loved by pupils at the school,” Mr Cannon said.
“He was a very popular man, and we would like to offer our support to his family and his colleagues and friends at this time.”
Oughterard publican Mike Flood of the Mayfly Inn described Mr Kenny as a “lovely man, a good neighbour, a good friend” and “no one could say a bad word about him”.
Speaking to RTÉ radio, Mr Flood said that he used to meet him at the swimming pool and gym in Galway regularly at about 7am, before Mr Kenny travelled on to teach in Athenry.
He was a man who had “no enemies”, he said.
Brian Nolan, a former pupil of Mr Kenny’s when he was a teacher at Mount Sion in Co Waterford, described how he was struck by his great love of his native Co Galway.
“I happened to mention the Oughterard placename in a German essay he corrected and we got talking about his home town and how much he loved it,” Mr Nolan said.