Contrary perhaps to a widespread impression, most journalists are not much given to reflecting on their function as information providers or on the role of the press in a free society. They just get on with their jobs. Reporters, in particular, tend to live for their craft and for the immediate story.
Sunday Independent crime reporter Veronica Guerin, who was murdered yesterday, was something of an exception, perhaps because she knew the dangers of her work, having already suffered violence for doing it. Or perhaps because she had seen up close the evil and the ruthlessness which are the reality of professional crime in our society. She articulated a clear, simple purpose; to tell people about that reality. And when she was asked about the law's response to it, she was scathing.
It is difficult to conceive of anything more inherently evil than to take the life of a young mother and wife, clinically and savagely as she drives about her daily round. Unhappily, this society in the 1990s is not unused to such barbarities. But yesterday's murder, in addition, has broken through yet another of the guard rails of our democracy. For the first time a journalist has been targeted for assassination. At this writing there can only be speculation as to the precise motive, but there must be little doubt that Veronica Guerin was the victim of professional criminals.
To describe it as an attack on the democratic system is not an exaggeration. It is comparable, perhaps, to the murder of a garda, although it reflects an even more callous mentality. Journalists are not trained for combat or for self defence. They do not have weapons. They do not have the protection of special laws or the support and solidarity of a disciplined force, armed as necessary. There could hardly have been a softer target than Veronica Guerin.
There is widespread shock at this dreadful deed. But there ought not to be any surprise that the criminal world is so emboldened. The rule of the gun has taken over in certain areas and in certain sub sections of our urban populations. A dozen such assassinations have taken place over a year and a half, the victims, for the most part, being involved in the criminal underworld. In not one instance has there been a charge, much less a conviction. The Garda does not have the legal instruments to mount effective investigations. The prosecution services recognise that convictions are virtually impossible under existing law and procedures. There is, in reality, no effective State response. Veronica Guerin knew that, and said so.
The Garda investigation, in time, will undoubtedly uncover sufficient information to identify the perpetrators. The community as a whole will fervently wish that they should be made amenable for this cruel murder, however strongly the odds may be stacked against such an eventuality. Meanwhile, the deepest sympathy will go to Veronica Guerin's grieving family and in particular to her husband and young son. We recognise and salute a colleague of the greatest courage and tenaciousness.