A brother of Veronica Guerin has said that an apology from the man serving life in prison for her murder 30 years ago today would make a difference to the family.
The 37-year-old journalist was shot dead in her car on the Naas Road in Dublin because she was prepared to give evidence against John Gilligan, the leader of a multimillion euro drugs gang, who assaulted her because of her work.
Jimmy Guerin said the least the Parole Board should do before it releases Brian Meehan – who was convicted of the murder – is to look for an acknowledgment from him of the wrong he has done.
The murder traumatised a family, shocked a nation and led to a realisation for the first time that, along with loyalist and republican terrorism, organised crime was a threat to the State and to the safety of citizens.
‘We’re dealing with immoral individuals’ – brother of Veronica Guerin
Ms Guerin, the mother of a six-year-old boy, was killed on 26 June 1996.
She was shot six times in her car, stopped at traffic lights, because she was going to expose the Gilligan gang’s drugs empire.
Its leader, John Gilligan, beat her up and threated to kill her and rape her son.
The State responded to the murder with additional garda resources and unprecedented new legislation, including the establishment of the witness protection programme and the Criminal Assets Bureau, as well as the use of the Special Criminal Court for gangland criminals.
The investigation resulted in the gang being dismantled and its key members, including Gilligan, imprisoned for lengthy periods. Two of them became State witnesses.
The man who shot Ms Guerin, Patrick Eugene ‘Dutchy’ Holland, died in prison in the UK.
Jimmy Guerin at the launch of an event to remember his sister, which takes place tonight
Retired assistant commissioner Tony Hickey, who led the investigation, described it as “a watershed moment, a game changer” as resources and legislation that gardaí needed were provided to solve the crime.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said the crime remains as shocking today as it was 30 years ago.
But he said the legacy of Ms Guerin’s murder is that it transformed the way policing is conducted in Ireland and the response to organised crime.
However, nature abhors a vacuum and with the constant and growing demand for drugs, the Gilligan gang’s network was quickly taken over by others, most notably the Kinahan Organised Crime Group.
The irony is that gang also became a threat to the State when it thought it could, with impunity, carry out a series of murders in Dublin from 2016 to 2018.
People involved in Guerin murder were ‘small vicious group,’ says former assistant commissioner
With over 100 of its hitmen, foot soldiers, lieutenants and leaders in prison, and more to follow, gardaí say the same fate awaits the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, as that of the Gilligan gang, and that is, perhaps, Ms Guerin’s greatest legacy.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said that everyone knows where they were when the murder happened.
He described it as a terrible event that introduced seismic changes in the criminal justice system and said his thoughts were with Ms Guerin’s family and friends.
The legacy of her death, he said, is that Ireland is a very difficult place for organised crime groups to operate and this can be seen in the number of convictions.
“Gardaí now approach organised crime in a different way … we can route all this back to that terrible day on the Naas Road.
“The message from all this is that no one is untouchable.”
Guerin’s death a ‘very consequential murder in Ireland,’ says Minister
Commissioner Kelly said that asset seizure and the international partnerships developed have been “a real game changer”.
He said that organised crime figures can no longer stay in Ireland and even when they go abroad, they can be brought back, first from the UK and Europe, and now from further afield.
Ms Guerin, who worked for the Sunday Independent, will be remembered today at a community walk to the place where she was shot dead.
A fundraising event for St Francis Hospice will be held at the Convention Centre in Dublin tonight.
It will be attended by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, as well as senior Government and opposition figures, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, and all previous commissioners since 1996, as well as senior members of the judiciary and the legal profession, members of the Criminal Assets Bureau, and a large number of dignitaries and public representatives.