We remember Martin O’Hagan

SIX MEMBERS of London Freelance Branch attended the Belfast trades unions' May Day parade on Saturday 4 May, which was dedicated in memory of Martin O'Hagan. Martin was the first person to be killed in Northern Ireland because he was a journalist and because of his work as a journalist. A reporter for the Sunday World who had investigated the Loyalist Volunteer Force, including its alleged links with British security operatives, he was shot and killed near his home on the evening of 28 October 2001.

NUJ President John Barsby said at the unveiling of a plaque: "Marty's wife, Marie, lost her beloved husband; his children a dear and loving father.   We lost a friend and colleague, and the people at large have lost someone who put his life on the line because he was a journalist who was not afraid to tell the truth. There are seven or eight other journalists here whose lives remain under threat but they still carry out their work to bring the truth to us all.   I am proud of them that even after the terrible blow of Marty's murder, they still continue to broadcast and to write as indeed Marty did until his untimely death."