Donohoe murder - Turn your outrage into firm resolve

Though yesterday’s funeral in Dundalk was tragic, most especially for Det Garda Adrian Donohoe’s widow Caroline, their son Niall — just six years of age — and daughter Amy — seven — we can all take some small crumb of comfort from the powerful reaction to his murder.

Last week’s wanton and casual killing provoked near universal outrage. It showed a society united, in a way it may not have been before, in opposition to violent criminals or violent republicans — or one masquerading as the other.

This may be of little immediate consolation to Adrian Donohoe’s heartbroken family, friends and colleagues, but if a comparison is made between the reaction, some of it deeply ambiguous, to the murder of Det Garda Jerry McCabe in Adare, in June 1996, then it is possible to say considerable progress has been made in this society on the question of violent republicanism, violent and organised crime and violence directed towards the gardaí. It is simply no longer acceptable.