What value attaches to human life? Increasingly little, it seems. The murder of a man in Drogheda yesterday has been linked to the drugs trade; his sister - who was with him at the time of the attack - was injured because she was unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Unfortunate in the same way as five-year-old Jordan Crawford, shot in the leg this month in an attack in Limerick in which his uncle was the target. But more fortunate than Keith Fitzsimons, murdered - apparently by "mistake" - in Dublin in June, or Donna Cleary who died in March after a gun was fired indiscriminately into a Dublin house where she was attending a party.
It is a remorseless cycle in which the gun is the tool of choice in asserting supremacy and settling disputes and in which those pulling the trigger (or ordering that it be pulled) know no barriers. The number of fatal shootings this year is close to the record 21 firearms homicides of last year and seems certain to rise. Beyond these statistics are real people, their lives extinguished prematurely and their names forgotten by all but families and friends.
But the murder of Latvian Baiba Saulite may be different - at least in the short term. Her death has pricked the public consciousness. She was at her Co Dublin home on Sunday when a lone gunman struck as her two sons slept upstairs. It emerged subsequently that patrols had been put in place around Ms Saulite's solicitor in recent months after gardaí learned of a threat to his life; that his home had been firebombed in February and that there had been an arson attack on Ms Saulite's car last month.
These events have given rise to questions about different garda responses to Ms Saulite and to her solicitor: what was the nature of the information available in each case? Was it cross-checked and were appropriate connections made? Did the fact that Ms Saulite had had a number of addresses impact in this regard? Was her immigrant status a factor? The Garda Commissioner is seeking to establish the extent of Garda knowledge and, when appropriate in the context of the investigation of her murder, these details should be made public. Court documentation, cited in a Garda statement earlier this week, recorded that Ms Saulite was "somewhat in fear" of her husband who is serving a prison sentence in Mountjoy.
Ms Saulite's death aside, the illicit drugs trade is the common feature in very many murders. So prevalent is heroin that in recent months two of the biggest seizures have had no impact on price or prevalence. Add to that a bumper opium crop this year - as well as the inextricable link between drugs and guns - and the picture is bleak.
Against this background, a report last week from the Drug Policy Action Group makes salutary reading. It called for a rethink of the response to the drugs trade - and a liberalised approach - on the basis that the current criminal justice focused policy does not work. Such suggestions would be unthinkable to many people who would fear more drug abuse as a result. But the issues raised deserve real debate. The status quo is untenable.