Who can say precisely what was going through the mind of Christopher Crowley on Thursday as he lifted a gun and shot dead his six-year-old daughter, Deirdre - that pretty, smiling, wide-eyed and fresh-faced child peering out of newspaper front pages yesterday? She might have been any father's daughter; the apple of her Dad's eye. It is impossible to know now the state of Christopher Crowley's mind because of the action he took against himself immediately after killing his little girl. What is known for certain, however, is that he has visited unfathomable grief upon his estranged partner, Ms Christine O'Sullivan, whose suffering this weekend, and for a long time to come, is more than any mother should have to bear. Ms O'Sullivan has spoken of the dreadful numbness that has overcome her since being told of the tragedy. The wider community shares with her that feeling of bewilderment and shock as people ask themselves: Why?
The answer to that question may never be answered fully. However, even at this early remove, the outline of some pertinent questions is becoming clearer.
This much has been acknowledged by the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, who yesterday appointed a senior officer to examine the circumstances leading to Thursday evening's events. The gardai whose arrival, and return visit, to the house near Clonmel appears to have prompted Mr Crowley to his terrible deeds deserve enormous sympathy. They are not directly responsible for what happened: what was done was done by Mr Crowley himself but no doubt the gardai will be consumed, asking themselves could they have acted differently?
This question will need to be answered by the inquiry. It was the correct thing for the Commissioner to order an investigation and it must be thorough, frank and open. If there are lessons to be learnt, they must be learnt well and the results applied with haste. Because one thing is apparent, as our Security Editor reports elsewhere in today's paper: this is but the latest tragic incident in which a parent involved in a broken relationship has chosen to take their own life and that of their children too.
Broken relationships are a fact of modern life. While Irish society and the institutions of State have accepted this in recent years, the consequences have been dealt with mainly in terms of mechanisms to give effect to the legal dissolution of marriage, division of property, maintenance, and access to children. It is time also for policy makers, the courts and social workers to give further thought to closer monitoring of the relationships that continue between spouses and their children after the initial relationship has broken down.
It is apparent that most people close to Christopher Crowley believed his daughter was safe with him. Clearly this was not so. But is it possible that with active and continuing monitoring by a third party, perhaps a social worker appointed by a court, early warning signs of the impending abduction.
Mr Crowley and Deirdre vanished for 21 months. It seems incredible that no one else in the State knew of his whereabouts. If anyone did but did nothing, they may be examining their conscience today.