THE MURDER of Veronica Guerin 10 days ago did not just cause public anger. It exposed the extent to which the Government had failed to grapple with organised crime.
The consequences of her killing reached far into Fine Gael; it raised deep tensions between the law and order party and its junior partners in Government it further enfeebled the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen; and it highlighted stresses within the Garda and its inability to deal with organised crime.
Spurred by public agitation and Opposition indignation, the Government was galvanised into pulling together a plan to tackle crime. The heat of the prevailing political climate even forced it to take the highly unusual step of accepting an Opposition Bill to freeze the assets of suspected drug traffickers, in an attempt to demonstrate its strength of purpose.
Almost overnight, the three Government leaders reached agreement on the previously contentious issues of a bail referendum and changes in the right to silence. Reservations in Labour and Democratic Left about infringements on civil liberties fell to the exigencies of the moment.
The killing of Ms Guerin on the Naas dual carriageway had crystallised the gravity of the crime problem in the Government's mind. And the rows of floral tributes outside Leinster House bore testimony to the public's anger at the perceived political ineptitude.
Senior sources said this week that the Government had in fact agreed a programme of anti crime measures that it planned to drip feed to the public over the summer. The killing of the investigative journalist put paid to all that.
On the eve of Ms Guerin's burial, the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, met the Tanaiste, the Minister for Social Welfare and Mrs Owen and announced that agreement had been reached between the three parties on a constitutional referendum to allow the refusal of bail because of the danger of the commission of serious offences by the accused.
Two days after the death of Veronica Guerin, and 10 days after the Minister had rejected an amendment to restrict the right to silence, they boldly announced that an amendment dealing with the issue would be introduced after all, in the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Bill on the following Tuesday.
It was in striking contrast to the position adopted by Mrs Owen on June 18th before the Select Committee on Legislation and Security. On that occasion she said there was "a growing body of jurisprudence under the European Convention on Human Rights that a privilege against self incrimination is an implicit element in the right to a fair trial guaranteed by Article 6.1 of the Convention. This in turn has implications for the exercise of the right to silence".
On June 28th, as lofty thoughts of the rights of the citizen bowed out to political reality, the Government confirmed that an amendment on the right to silence would be introduced in the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Bill.
This would even allow inference to be drawn from the failure of the accused to disclose matters relied upon in the defence case and "which could reasonably have been expected to have been mentioned during Garda questioning".
Beleaguered by public and political insistence on a vigorous response to crime, the three Government leaders met again on Monday with Mrs Owen, the Finance Minister, Mr Quinn, and the Environment Minister, Mr Howlin. They would formally unveil their plans the following day in a well publicised press conference.
BUT Tuesday night's occasion in Government Buildings did not draw the appropriate response because the following days saw both contradiction and clarification from the Coalition about precisely what was on offer.
Flanked by his Justice Minister and Tanaiste, the Taoiseach on Tuesday night led the press conference to exhibit the Government's anti crime package. (Could it be a year, almost to the week, that Mrs Owen had launched an anti drugs sortie, which was long on publicity and short on impact?)
This time the Government had approved a "full review of the efficiency of the Garda Siochana" under the Strategic Management Initiative, to be completed by the end of this year. We await the appointment of a new Garda Commissioner, probably on Tuesday, who will be mandated to implement the recommendations of this review.
However, word of a review of the force was hardly out of the Minister's mouth when the outgoing Commissioner, Mr Patrick Culligan, was hinting that this was not his particular fancy.
It emerged within 24 hours also that the Government had not spoken with Garda management before declaring that senior civil servants from the Strategic Management Initiative would "undertake a review of the efficiency and cost effectiveness" of the force.
Signals of a unified front against the forces of evil were decidedly weak and, by Wednesday afternoon, holes were being picked in a central element of the package, the new remand prison at Wheatfield.
The Minister had signalled that construction would not begin until 1998, a fact that drew fresh thunder from the Opposition and the Prison Officers' Association. By Thursday, the message had changed building of the prison would go ahead after all in 1997.
In the midst of this came a stark warning from Mr Quinn that the money to pay for this very expensive crime package would have to come from other priorities of public spending. The entire package is costing an additional £112 million in the Justice area over four years.
Meanwhile, alarming murmurings had begun to filter from Fine Gael's backbenchers. In parliamentary party session on Wednesday they gave full vent to their anger at the treatment of their Justice Minister.
Nobody escaped, not even their own Ministers in Cabinet. They, Labour and Democratic Left had left Mrs Owen "hanging out to dry", declared the party's chairman, Mr Phil Hogan.
By Thursday evening, the Taoiseach found it necessary to issue a lengthy defence of his Government's crime package.
Sight had been lost of exactly what the Government was doing in relation to crime. He spelt out its plan again, adding this time that the Minister of State, Mr Hugh Coveney, would be in personal charge of all prison projects.
And, as the Dail rose yesterday evening for the summer recess, to return for a one day debate on crime on July 25th, TDs went home with the thought that crime will indeed be a critical issue in the next general election.