In acquitting John Gilligan of the murder of Sun- day Independent journalist, Veronica Guerin, the judges of the Special Criminal Court will have disappointed many people. For the murdered woman's family and friends, the closure which might have flowed from Gilligan's conviction, is not to be. For the Garda, whose officers pursued the case with such diligence, it is a reverse, notwithstanding the 28-year sentence imposed on Gilligan for drugs importation.
The verdict must put a question-mark over the viability of the witness protection programme which the Garda has utilised to persuade criminals to testify against their accomplices. It appears that prosecutions based on the uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice will fall. Many jurists will be pleased that a new and dangerous element, alien to the traditional values of Irish criminal jurisprudence, has been disallowed. But those who believe that the legal system is inadequate to deal with organised, ruthless crime, will be dismayed.
In 1996, the murder of Ms Guerin, along with the murderous attack on gardai in Co Limerick which took the life of Detective Jerry McCabe, galvanised the political establishment to action against organised crime. Criminals had so become emboldened that inconvenient lives could be snuffed out at will. The Minister for Justice put legislation through the Oireachtas which enabled the Garda to move with new-found effectiveness, principally through the the Criminal Assets Bureau and the witness protection programme.
Yesterday's verdict means that the State has to think again. Convictions are not going to be secured on the basis of accomplice evidence alone. Some gardai may suggest that this can be seen as reflecting on the force's credibility. But evidence procured by the police through a quid-pro-quo understanding with an accomplice has to be subject to the most rigorous scrutiny and, if it does not pass this test, it must not be admitted. It is, however, incumbent on the State - and society at large - to ensure that all modern aids to criminal inquiry are made available to the Garda and that the law is modified, in whatever degree is necessary, to have evidence secured by these methods admissible in court.
The multi-million pound empire of John Gilligan and his gang may have been broken up. But organised crime is here to stay. It sponsors a deadly web of drugs-dealing through every city and large town throughout the State. It has links with paramilitary organisations and, notwithstanding the successes of the CAB, its practitioners increasingly seek to channel its proceeds towards supposedly legitimate businesses. Since the murder of Veronica Guerin, more than 20 men have been murdered, execution-style, by criminal elements. Once crime gets a grip in a society it becomes virtually ineradicable. When crime bosses are taken out, they are swiftly replaced by others.
The tragedy is that successive governments lacked the moral courage to square up to crime - and, in particular, drugs-related crime - until the murder of Veronica Guerin. It is earnestly to be hoped that the resolution shown in 1996, and the massive efforts of the Garda since, will not now be allowed to dissipate. Criminal methods will continue to change. So must the State's responses. Fewer criminals in the 21st century will wear masks and carry guns. More likely they will wear expensive suits, surround themselves with accountants and lawyers and mix in desirable and influential circles. When the dust settles after the Gilligan verdict, these are the considerations which should inform the State's policy on serious crime.