{"id":531895,"date":"2026-07-03T23:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T23:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/531895\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T23:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T23:32:13","slug":"nuj-on-lyra-mckee-case-northern-ireland-is-a-place-where-you-get-away-with-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/531895\/","title":{"rendered":"NUJ on Lyra McKee case: ‘Northern Ireland is a place where you get away with murder’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A media union leader has said \u201cNorthern Ireland<\/a> is a place where you get away with murder\u201d as he expressed regret that the man who fired the shot that killed journalist Lyra McKee will \u201cin all likelihood\u201d never be convicted.<\/p>\n

Seamus Dooley, assistant general secretary of the NUJ, said Northern Ireland was \u201ccruelly deprived\u201d of a \u201cgreat journalist with enormous talent\u201d following the murder of Ms McKee in 2019.<\/p>\n

On Friday, three men were found not guilty of murdering the 29-year-old<\/a> who died after being hit by a bullet as she stood close to police vehicles while observing disturbances in the Creggan area of Derry.<\/p>\n

Lyra McKee (PA)<\/p>\n

Paul McIntyre, 58, of Kells Walk in Derry, Peter Cavanagh, 38, of Mary Street, and Jordan Gareth Devine, 25, of Bishop Street, faced a joint enterprise murder charge.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside court, Mr Dooley said the union is \u201cdevastated\u201d on behalf of Ms McKee\u2019s family, and referred to the death of Martin O\u2019Hagan, a Sunday World reporter who was shot dead by loyalists in Lurgan, Co Armagh, in September 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe judge did acknowledge that Lyra McKee was murdered,\u201d he said. \u201cWe knew that, and we wanted that conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe also acknowledged that the man who shot Lyra McKee \u2013 the man who fired that shot and cruelly deprived us of a young and talented journalist \u2013 has never been arrested, has never been convicted, and in all likelihood now never will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yet again in Northern Ireland, just as happened with Martin O\u2019Hagan, we have a journalist who has been murdered, and Northern Ireland is a place where you get away with murder.\u201d Mr Dooley further expressed disappointment that there was \u201cno conviction\u201d in relation to the riotous behaviour that occurred on the night Ms McKee was killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ruling on that has severe implications for the citizens of any town or city under siege, and indeed for police,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right to protest is important. There is no right to put life at peril.\u201d The trade union leader also said there should be reflection \u201con the fact that there was a performative element to this riot\u201d.<\/p>\n

A television crew, including British presenter Reggie Yates, had been filming in the area with the republican organisation Saoradh for a documentary for MTV around the time Ms McKee was killed.<\/p>\n

After filming around several Derry locations in the morning, they left the area before the shooting happened.<\/p>\n

Mr Dooley said: \u201cJournalists must operate within an ethical framework, and in coming to any area, must bear significant ethical responsibilities for their actions and the potential for provoking reaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as we reflect on the many lessons from this, my view is that MTV and the way in which their presence may have contributed to what happened, requires reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus Dooley and Kevin Cooper speaking outside court after three men were found not guilty of the murder of journalist Lyra McKee (PA video)<\/p>\n

Kevin Cooper, Belfast & District branch acting chair of the NUJ, also spoke to reporters outside court, saying: \u201cWe had a young, talented journalist shot on the streets of Northern Ireland, merely doing her job, as you yourselves are doing your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe are reflecting that this is the second time Seamus and I have stood giving interviews about a member of our branch having been cruelly shot and killed in the doing of their work, and as a result of being working journalists, no more, no less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Cooper further stated: \u201cThe NUJ has been here before, and the NUJ sadly is here again today with no outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Dooley described Ms McKee as a \u201cgreat journalist with enormous talent\u201d who was \u201cdenied the right to grow old\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne aspect of Lyra\u2019s journalism was her determination to struggle for hope, and particularly for the generation abused by older people, taking advantage of their disillusionment and putting them out on the streets and using them as fodder in pursuit of their ideology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd today, as I listened to the description again of what happened on that fateful night in Derry, I was reminded of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut while we go away here disappointed, maybe disillusioned, the greatest legacy and the greatest tribute we can pay to her legacy is to continue her work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A media union leader has said \u201cNorthern Ireland is a place where you get away with murder\u201d as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1111,61,60,43,1112],"class_list":["post-531895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-court-and-crime","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-politics-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}