Bursary launched in memory of Veronica Guerin

A bursary was launched today in memory of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin.

A student or prospective student of journalism at Dublin City University will be awarded €8,500 annually as part of the scheme launched to mark the 10th anniversary of her death.

Ms Guerin was gunned down on June 26, 1996 on the outskirts of Dublin by a pillion passenger on a motorbike after mounting a high-profile war against Ireland’s drug barons in the Sunday Independent.

The first assassination of a reporter in the Republic sparked shock and anger among fellow journalists and the public and gardaí vowed to track down her killers.

Then Taoiseach John Bruton called the murder “an attack on democracy” and the Dáil marked it with a minute’s silence.

In a joint statement, newspaper editors in Ireland and Britain branded the assassination “a fundamental attack on the free press”.

The criminal investigation was one of the largest in the history of the state and led to over 150 arrests.

Brian Meehan was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Paul Ward was also convicted and sentenced to life in prison in November 1998 but this conviction was later overturned on appeal.

Drugs baron John Gilligan was extradited from England in February 2000. He was tried and acquitted of her murder but convicted of importing cannabis and sentenced to 28 years in prison, which was reduced to 20 years on appeal.

The man named in court as having shot dead Veronica Guerin, Patrick ’Dutchy’ Holland, reiterated his denial after being released from a prison sentence for a drugs conviction in April.

Ms Guerin’s life has inspired two films, When the Sky Falls in 2000, starring Joan Allen, and Veronica Guerin in 2003, which starred Cate Blanchett.

Independent Newspapers announced the Veronica Guerin Memorial Bursary to mark the 10th anniversary of her death.

Ms Guerin served as a member of the governing body of DCU from 1982 to 1992.

The university runs two flagship programmes in journalism – the Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and the Master of Arts in Journalism

The bursary will be awarded annually to either a current student of the MA or an applicant for the MA who is eligible to register for the programme in the next academic year.

Applicants shall be required to propose a subject for their final thesis/major project that is relevant to the memory of Veronica Guerin.

The university said this could be, for example, a series of investigative articles or a radio documentary or an academic study of the practice of investigative journalism.