Seven of 30 murder victims were lone pensioners

Forty eight people died violently in 1998, compared with 53 in 1997. More than 30 people were murdered last year, seven of them women. No one has been charged in connection with 18 of last year's murders, although in some cases files have been prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Most killings were by beating or stabbing. Two involved gangland-type shootings. The first was in January when Mr Eamon O'Reilly (22) was shot in a pub in Finglas, north Dublin and the second in September when Mr Gerard Moran (35) was shot twice in the leg while answering a bogus order for a food delivery.

Almost one in four murder victims were pensioners killed in their homes: six men and one woman.

In May 83-year-old Galway man Mr Tom Kelly died two months after he was attacked in his Ballinasloe home. Earlier that month Mr Eddie Fitzmaurice (83), a Sligo draper, was found dead from hypothermia after being tied to a chair and gagged during a robbery. Despite a large reward offered by local traders, no one has been charged.

In June two pensioners died after being attacked in their homes. Mr Patrick Larkin, who was in his 60s, was tied up in his home at Arbour Hill in Dublin. Co Clare farmer Mr Paud Skehan (68) died in hospital almost two months after being beaten and tied to the bannisters of his home in Bridgetown.

In November Mrs Marie Dillon (72) was found dead in the garage of her Glasnevin house. A youth has been charged in connection with her death. Last month a retired CIE official was found lying dead in the kitchen of his home in Clontarf, Dublin.

Last Monday publican Mr Tom Croghan (71) was found dead in his pub in Clondra, Co Longford. A man has been charged with assault in the case.

In Dublin last January the body of Mr Felix McCann (48), a homeless man, was found badly beaten in a shed in Sandyford.

Mrs Chantal Bergeron (42), a French national, died after being shot by her husband Louis in their Tipperary cottage in August. Mr Bergeron then shot himself.

No one has been charged with the murder of Dublin woman Ms Sinead Kelly (21), who was working as a prostitute on Dublin's Grand Canal.