NUJ demands justice on 25th anniversary of O’Hagan murder
A large crowd gathered in Belfast yesterday (28 September) to remember NUJ member Martin O’Hagan and demand justice.
O’Hagan, who was secretary of the NUJ Belfast and District branch and an investigative journalist for Sunday World, was murdered by the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) while walking home with his wife Marie from their local pub in Lurgan on 28 September 2001. No one has been convicted of his murder.
A vigil organised by the Belfast and District branch was held outside the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland’s office in Writer’s Square. Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary, called for the immediate release of the Ombudsman’s long-awaited report, commissioned in 2013, into police handling of O’Hagan’s murder, and for a new independent investigation.
The vigil was led by Fran McNulty, NUJ joint president, with Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, and Martin’s daughters Niamh and Tina also in attendance. Kevin Cooper, O’Hagan’s colleague at the Belfast and District branch, introduced proceedings, unfurling a new branch banner marking the NUJ’s 25-year-long campaign for justice.
Anne Hailes, NUJ Belfast and District branch chair, read Grahame Davies’ poem “The Journalist” before the vigil closed with a minute’s silence and a rendition of the traditional piper lament, “Flowers of the Forest”.
Friends, family and colleagues of O'Hagan gather outside the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland's office in Writer's Square.
Séamus Dooley, Patrick Corrigan (Amnesty), Laura Davison and Sam McBride (Belfast Telegraph).
The NUJ Belfast and District branch unveiled a new banner to O'Hagan.
Fran McNulty, Tina O'Hagan, Niamh O'Hagan and Anne Hailes.
Kevin Cooper alongside Anne Hailes and Séamus Dooley.
A piper playing "Flowers of the Forest".
The union then held a seminar titled '25 Years Demanding Justice' at the Ramada Hotel, Belfast. The panel discussion featured McNulty and Davison alongside Rebecca Black, PA journalist, and Richard Sullivan, Sunday World Northern editor.
Following Dooley’s call for the immediate publication of Police Ombudsman’s report, Davison announced that NUJ would seek an urgent meeting with the Ombudsman. Sullivan said that Martin “was targeted deliberately because he was a journalist […] because he dared to expose the truth”, while Black urged campaigners to continue calling for justice and applauded the NUJ for “keeping Martin O’Hagan’s name in the headlines and demanding action.”
Fran McNulty speaking at the panel discussion.
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary.
Richard Sullivan speaking on the panel.
Davison, Dooley and McNulty also accompanied Niamh and Tina O’Hagan to St Anne's Cathedral to remember Martin O’Hagan and Lyra McKee, another NUJ Belfast and District branch member who was killed in Derry in 2019 while observing a riot as a freelance journalist.
Tina and Niamh O'Hagan with Séamus Dooley, Fran McNulty and Laura Davison at St Anne's Cathedral.
© Séamus Dooley
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