Veronica Guerin was the crime correspondent for the Irish Independent for five years up until her murder in June 1996. Although a well-respected and highly radical journalist (The Independent is the Grauniad of Ireland so this is high praise for one of their journalists) she did little in the name of heroism. Her radical style of investigating the highly dangerous Dublin underworld scene (not including the provisionals) was brave and, for a while, gained her the confidence of many of the infamous gang leaders incuding the General who was the subject of two recent films and who was also a nasty piece of work.
This bravery and over-confidence resulted in a midnight visit and a bullet in the thigh as a warning from an unknown gunman. She became increasingly pushy and, six months after being shot in the leg, she was shot twice in the head whilst driving back from a minor court case just outside Dublin.
Her death was a shock to the country because she was a journalist doing her job and the power she wielded in her investigative practices made her a real threat to the criminal gangs and drug lords. But no journalist had ever been murdered in this country for any reason. The public outcry resulted in a determined crackdown on organised crime and several draconian laws being passed including the Criminal Assets Bill which allowed the state confiscation of assets attained through criminal activity. This applied to relatives of the criminal as well as to the individual himself.
No one has ever been convicted of her murder but many of the top criminals who were suspected have suffered greatly as a result of the new legislation. Many are now doing long overdue sentences. Veronica was not a hero in my opinion but her persistence in the face of danger brought to light a number of issues which many were afraid to address. Now that there was unanimity the government could act with impunity against a common threat to society. She has a strong legacy and her family can be proud of that achivement but her death was a tragedy not borne of heroism.
Orla Guerin was the RTE (Irish television) East European correspondent since the late '80s. Her meteoric rise in the journalistic ranks was due to a few lucky breaks. She was at the Berlin wall when it came down and was in Hungary for the first Warsaw Pact country's revolution the same year. Another well-respected journalist she did herself no favours by running in the General election of 1993 by standing for the Labour party (at the personal request of the leader) against another long-standing and popular Labour TD (Irish MP) in the same constituency. The press jumped on the high profile mud-slinging match with gusto and rumours abounded that she and the leader were having an affair (amongst other ugly rumours). Needless to say, public opinion was on the side of the other candidate (she won easily) and Orla left Ireland later in the year never to return. She worked for a while for the London Examiner before getting the plum job in the Beeb.
Guerin isn't a common name here. It's derived from the French and probably came here via the Normans or the Switzers but two female journalists sharing the same surname is purely coincidental.
Cate Blanchett struck me as an unusual choice to play Veronica Guerin. But the story is based loosely on Ms.Guerin's life and concentrates more on her methods. Ms. Blanchett's serious demeanour should make her a very convincing crime correspondent.
