Guerin ‘not upset’ at Gilligan attack

Jimmy Guerin, the brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin, has said it would be “wrong to gloat” over recent attempts on the life of former gangland boss John Gilligan.

Mr Gilligan was accused of ordering the 1996 murder of Ms Guerin. He was acquitted in 2001 after a lengthy trial at the Central Criminal Court.

Speaking after the weekend shooting of Mr Gilligan in a house in west Dublin, Mr Guerin said he didn't think it was right "that anybody is shot or that their life is in danger", but he said "it would be hypocritical of me to say that I was upset at the news".

Behind murder

Mr Guerin said he believed Mr Gilligan was behind his sister’s murder.

“We were unsuccessful in getting a conviction for Veronica’s murder even though everybody knows he was the gang leader and the man responsible for the planning of it,” he said.

Speaking of Ms Guerin’s family, he told RTÉ’s Miriam O’Callaghan it was “very hurtful for us to see somebody who we know was responsible for the murder of our sister to be free from prison”.

He said it was “natural” for his late sister “to be in our thoughts” as news came in on another attempt on Mr Gilligan’s life.

“The one memory I have of the Gilligan trial was him looking over and smiling as the details of Veronica’s death were being read out in court and given in evidence,” Mr Guerin said.

“So it’s very hard then, even if it is so many years on, for people to say, well do you not move on or do you not forgive, or whatever, but no you don’t, and these are the things that will stick with me until my dying day.”

He said he had found out Mr Gilligan had been shot when he received a call from his son. “He had heard it from a guard.”

Mr Guerin said he had great admiration for the Garda Síochána: “They are the only entity within the State that can seriously take on crime gangs and criminal activity and I think that more and more resources should be made available to them.”