Man who died in Moynalty house fire named

The tragic news of the death of a man in a house fire in Moynalty has been greeted with widespread shock and sadness in the North Meath village.

The alarm was raised early on Monday morning and the emergency services, including units from Kells and Nobber Fire Services, attended the house at Bellair, Moynalty. The fire was extinguished but sadly the body of a man, in his 60s, was recovered from the property. He has been named locally as Martin O'Malley, who was originally from Dublin had been living in Moynalty for about 10 years.

Martin was the Location Manager on hit Irish film 'The Commitments', sourcing locations that showed urban decay as part of the screen adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel. He also had a brief cameo role as a priest in the movie and featured on the 'Back to Barrytown' documentary on RTE in 2021 to celebrate 30 years of The Commitments.

In a statement, An Garda Síochána confirmed that gardaí and emergency services attended the scene of the fatal house fire in Moynalty, Kells, at approximately 9am on Monday morning and that a man, aged in his 60s, was pronounced dead at the scene.

His body was removed to Our Lady's Hospital Navan, for a post-mortem examination to be conducted.

The fire was extinguished by the local fire service and a technical examination of the scene was carried out.