Star date: 21st May 2016

MURDERED JOURNALIST IN FILM AND TALK TRIBUTE

Remembering Veronica Guerin
Sunday 29th May 7:30pm
Three Minute Theatre, Manchester £4

Veronica Guerin, the Irish journalist killed by drugs lords twenty years ago, is to be remembered by Manchester and Salford NUJ branch, with a special screening of the Veronica Guerin film starring Cate Blanchett and a talk by NUJ Irish Secretary Seamus Dooley, who worked with the legendary investigative reporter. The event is open to non-NUJ members.

Full details here...

Irish crime reporter, Veronica Guerin, was murdered on June 26th, 1996, two days before she was due to speak at a Freedom Forum conference in London on the topic `Dying to Tell the Story: Journalists at Risk'.

Guerin was exposing the activities of drug gangs in Dublin and had previously been targeted, shot in the leg at her home. On June 26th, however, her car was followed and, while stopped at a red light, she was shot six times by a hitman on a motorbike.

Guerin's murder caused outrage. There was a minute's silence called by Irish unions, observed throughout the country, her funeral was attended by Ireland's Taoiseach John Bruton, who called the `hit' "an attack on democracy", and within a week of her death, the Irish Parliament passed the Proceeds of Crime Act and the Criminal Assets Bureau Act, so that assets purchased with money obtained through crime could be seized by the government.

Guerin has been remembered in songs, there's a statue in the grounds of Dublin Castle and there's also been two films about her life. One of these, Veronica Guerin, starring Cate Blanchett, is being shown on Sunday, 29th May, at the Three Minute Theatre in Affleck's Palace, by the Manchester and Salford NUJ, as part of its Four Pound Film Club.

Guest speaker is NUJ Irish Secretary, Seamus Dooley, who worked with Guerin and was her deputy FoC (shop steward) at the time of her death...

"Journalism's reputation has been damaged in recent years but remembering the work and bravery of journalists like Veronica can help challenge some of the misrepresentations of our industry and its workers" says Four Pound Film Club organiser Rachel Broady.

The event is open to everyone as well as NUJ members.

Remembering Veronica Guerin
Sunday 29th May 7:30pm £4
Three Minute Theatre
Affleck's Palace, Oldham Street, Manchester M1 1JG

Three Minute Theatre is a small, 70-seat independent theatre, cinema and music venue in the city centre, established in 2010. It has a licensed bar.

For further details see the Remembering Veronica Guerin Facebook event page – click here