The father of Brian Murphy, who was kicked to death outside a Dublin nightclub in 2000, has said his family are not troubled by the release of a new book that is loosely based on the circumstances of his killing.

The book, Bad Day In Blackrock, details how a young man was kicked to death outside a Dublin nightclub.

In Kevin Power's novel, three men are charged in relation to the victim's killing. The young men share, "common childhoods and schooling in the privileged echelons of south Dublin suburbia", according to the book of "fiction".

Murphy (18), from Clonskeagh in the capital, died after receiving injuries following a fight outside Club Anabel in Dublin in August 2000. Four men, Dermot Laide, Desmond Ryan, Seán Mackey and Andrew Frame, all former pupils of Blackrock College, were charged in relation to his death.

Laide was convicted of manslaughter and violent disorder, but the conviction for manslaughter was overturned on appeal in 2005 and the state did not proceed with a retrial. Mackey was convicted of violent disorder and sentenced to two years. Ryan was also convicted of violent disorder but this was later overturned on appeal.

Brian's father Dennis Murphy was supplied with an advance copy of the book by publishers Lilliput Press. "As far as we're concerned, it's a work of fiction," he told the Sunday Tribune when contacted.

Anthony Farrell, head of Lilliput, said the publishing house supplied an advance copy of the book to the Murphy family upon request.

"A friend of the Murphys requested the book. We gave them an advance proof. The novel does take its departure from that event but it is a work of imagination," he said.

"It is similar to how Truman Capote's novel In Cold Blood is based on an actual event. Or how John Banville's novel The Book of Evidence is loosely based on the life of [Malcolm] MacArthur. This novel is holding a mirror up to our society. It is a look at the Dublin 4 generation, in a way."

In the book, the author describes how a group of "Brookfield boys" set upon the victim Conor Harris in a "drunken fight".

In a reference to schools rugby, the author also describes how one of the killers "took the first running kick as though aiming
for the conversion in a senior cup final".