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A plinth marks the spot on the Naas road in Dublin were journalist Veronica Guerin was shot dead Niall Carson/PA Archive/Press Association Images

17 years on: Veronica Guerin remembered for courage and determination

The 37-year-old was one of the first journalists in Ireland to take on the “big guys” of organised crime.

THIS DAY 17 years ago, well-known journalist Veronica Guerin was shot dead, a murder that shocked the nation.

The Sunday Independent crime correspondent had given Ireland the faces of the organised crime that had started to spiral out of control in the mid-1990s.

“She would go down to drug pushers, to an addict’s house, or to the Taoiseach’s house,” her brother Jimmy Guerin recalled this week. “She could go anywhere and get them to trust her. That was the kind of person she was.”

Her personal campaign against “the big guys” of the drugs underworld was described during a TV3 documentary to mark the anniversary of her death this week.

It recalled two previous attempts on her life before that fateful day on 26 June 1996.

In October 1994, shots were fired into her house but nobody was injured. And then in January 1995, a gunman came to her door and she was shot in the leg. She survived because of a faulty gun.

Jimmy Guerin believes more action could have been taken then to prevent her death just 18 months later.

“These were serious criminals and they would stop at nothing,” he said.

The 37-year-old mother of one was also beaten up by known criminal John Gilligan when she visited his house during 1995. She was forced to wear a neckbrace after the assault which left her “black and blue”. Former garda Assistant Commissioner Tony Hickey said it was “hard to imagine someone would take on a woman, a national journalist”.

The name Veronica Guerin has now become synonymous with the war on drugs, according to her brother.

“When there is a terrible crime, they talk about the reaction to Veronica’s death, or if they talk about drug dealers, they talk about Veronica.

“She has become an icon. There is always mention of it. I wouldn’t want it any other way. I wouldn’t want weeks to go by when I wasn’t thinking about Veronica.”

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51 Comments
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    Mute Paul Roche
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    May 12th 2014, 8:45 PM

    The bigger they are, the slower they pay.

    148
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    Mute The Hooded Biscuit
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    May 12th 2014, 11:52 PM

    So true, got to the stage with my business where I have refused work from some large businesses who think I should be grateful, not worth it for the pain of constant chasing and chasing.

    22
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    Mute Ian Mac Eochagáin
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    May 12th 2014, 9:18 PM

    “Payment managers”? Intrum Justitia are debt collectors who use underhand methods (anonymous voicemail messages and hand-delivered notes) to chase up debtors. If everyone started paying their bills on time Intrum would go out of business.

    That’s not exactly true about Finland. Well, maybe the stats are, because people are more disciplined. Here if you forget to pay a bill (which has happened to me once or twice) it takes them a week or two to notice and then they send you a reminder.

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    Mute Jimbo
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    May 12th 2014, 8:33 PM

    Well that sucks balls.

    51
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    Mute Noble Gas
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    May 12th 2014, 8:50 PM

    We pay after 65 days – contracts says 30. Drives the Germans and French suppliers banana’s

    40
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    Mute Crocodylus Pontifex
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    May 12th 2014, 9:04 PM

    Not as bananas as that unnecessary apostrophe is driving me.

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    Mute Joseph Siddall
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    May 12th 2014, 9:14 PM

    Noble Gas, …..and you’re proud of that fact ? Suppose your company don’t expect it’s customer to honour payment terms so they can take the p1ss as well. Pathetic excuse for management.

    56
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    Mute Kevin Higgins
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    May 12th 2014, 8:45 PM

    Jobs jobs jobs, FG can’t even do that right and it’s all they do. Skew figures

    39
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    Mute Gaucho Doyle
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    May 12th 2014, 10:21 PM

    Getting paid business to business in sixty days would be good in Ireland. It’s more like 90 to 120, you ask some campanys to pay you after 30 days and they look at you like you have two heads and then come up with any accounting excuse not to pay you. ‘Oh we won’t be doing a cheque run till the end of the month’, ‘One of the directors is away at the moment, so we won’t be able to issue a cheque till he’s back’ bla bla bla Then why do you order these goods and services!!!!!!!!!

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    Mute Happy Go Lucky
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    May 12th 2014, 10:45 PM

    You forgot the cheque is in the post…

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    Mute blah!
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    May 12th 2014, 9:07 PM

    Ok maybe I’m missing something, the article, in paragraph two, refers to “unpaid bills”, then further on states that for business to business, payments are made around 29 days with 14 days the norm for public sector payments. Prompt payment legislation, as far as I know, requires payment to be made within 30 days from receipt of invoice. These are not “unpaid bills” or “late or non-payment of debt”. Maybe 30 days is too long in our digital age but at least call it what it is. On time, legislatively compliant payments. Or perhaps the problem is elsewhere, lack of credit to cover the 30 day period. That would be the banks again….

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    Mute Dave Mac
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    May 12th 2014, 9:48 PM

    Intrum justicas sales manager!!

    He just let slip that you don’t have to pay them!

    Idiot!

    26
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    Mute Simon O'Keeffe
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    May 12th 2014, 9:34 PM

    Doh! What do they think jobsbridge was created for.

    17
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    Mute Patrick Linehan
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    May 12th 2014, 10:47 PM

    It’s called the Tragic Roundabout. I can’t pay A because I haven’t been paid by B who’s owed money by C.

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    Mute Lisa Saputo
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    May 12th 2014, 11:55 PM

    Are debt collectors called payment managers now?

    13
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    Mute Christopher O Callaghan
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    May 18th 2014, 1:16 AM

    Payment managers/credit controllers/credit management advisors etc

    1
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    Mute Christopher O Callaghan
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    May 18th 2014, 1:16 AM

    Payment managers/credit controllers/credit management advisors etc

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    Mute GATHERINGYOURMONEY14
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    May 12th 2014, 11:38 PM

    The bust shmall chounthry ta doo bwisnish in.
    Because you don’t have to pay your suppliers.

    8
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