Obituary.... Martin O’Hagan

by John Nixon

The murder of Martin O Hagan by the LVF in Lurgan shocked and angered everyone, well almost everyone. Those who murdered him obviously feared him. Martin had been threatened by loyalist paramilitaries on a number of occasions in the past. He was well aware of the risks associated with his job yet he remained steadfast to his journalistic principles. The fact that he took a proactive role in the NUJ will come as no surprise to those who knew him. Martin was a committed trade unionist and socialist. He had moved to his new home close to the loyalist Mourneview estate a year to the day he was murdered. He believed that he was safe and that the peace process was working. Those who murdered him saw him as a soft target. They understood that they would not invite retaliation from republican opponents. Martin O Hagan and his family would abhor such an act. Undoubtedly the killers are known to the RUC.

There is a nest of LVF operating out of Mourneview with impunity. There have been allegations of RUC collusion and this darker side of RUC/loyalist activity was being investigated by Martin. This collusion was exposed in The Committee, a book in which he played a pivotal role. Martin O Hagan was relentless in his pursuit of the truth. His murder has been lamented and lambasted by the media but the reaction of the northern state pales in significance to the response evoked by the murder of Veronica Guerin in the south.

Since Martin's death there have been important political developments not to mention decommissioning. Loyalist murder gangs continue to pipe bomb at will and peddle their message of bigotry, hate and death. But Martin O Hagan's murder was not a part of their 'any taig will do' strategy. There is something deeply sinister here.

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