The Minister for Justice has expressed his condolences to the family and friends of US woman Jamey Carney – the 43-year-old who was found dead at her Co Kerry home last week.
A murder investigation was launched after Ms Carney’s body was found at her home on Muckross Road in Killarney last Tuesday morning.
Gardaí are seeking to speak to a man described as a “person of significant interest” who they believe may have information that could assist their inquiries.
The man is understood to have travelled by bus from Killarney to Dublin in the early hours of Tuesday morning before flying to the Middle East, where he is originally from.
Mr O’Callaghan said that gardaí were pursuing a very clear line of inquiry, and revealed that there would be engagement between gardaí and police services in Jordan.
Gardaí alerted international law enforcement agencies including, Interpol and Europol, as part of their investigation.
Jamey Carney was found dead at her home on Muckross Road in Killarney
Ms Carney’s family have spoken of their shock at her death.
Gardaí will pursue ‘no matter where you are’
Asked about the person of interest, Mr O’Callaghan said: “No matter where you are, the gardaí will seek to pursue you.”
There are no extradition treaties between Ireland and either Jordan or Syria, which the minister accepted could hamper the investigation.
“It obviously is difficult. I’m not going to try and make it sound easy. If he’s in a country where we don’t have an extradition agreement, it may be difficult to get him.
“But that situation happened in the United Arab Emirates, and we secured an agreement with the United Arab Emirates, and we returned a person here who has been convicted of a very serious offence of organised criminal activity, and another person is incarcerated in the United States.”
The minister added: “I know from speaking to the [Garda] Commissioner that the gardaí have great connections with other police forces around the world. And I know that they will be pursuing every line of inquiry to ensure that a person, if that person is charged with an offence, can be brought to justice here.”
Asked if the US authorities were also working on the case, he said: “The gardaí and I, if I’m required to provide any assistance, will use whatever measure we can to ensure that if a person is charged, that that person is brought back to Ireland to face those charges before the Irish courts”.