Sisters’ great bravery - The courage to protect our society

Another of the unfortunate legacies — what a long, well-polished list that is — of our nation’s time as a colony is a visceral distaste for “informers”. That, however, did not prevent a great number of our countrymen or women being just that.

In Boston in recent weeks, the trial of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger ended when the Irish-American mob boss and multiple murderer was sent to jail for the rest of his life. This conviction would have been impossible had some of Bulger’s inner circle not given evidence against him. This took considerable courage, or forceful persuasion, as Bulger murdered construction worker Michael Donahue in 1982 for no reason other than he gave a lift to a potential witness against Bulger.

Bulger’s crimes were not confined to America, as he also supplied arms to the IRA, but thankfully they were seized before they were landed. Subsequently, Bulger had the person who leaked information about the shipment murdered.