Jimmy Gearan

But I think she found a niche there.

When she got to tourism, it might have been ego.

You know, she might have seen it and said, well, I did that.

And I think that's what brought her into the journalism.

And I don't believe that a year before she was in it, she thought, this is something I might do.

You see, the thing about Veronica, and I do accept it's competitive, Veronica competed with herself.

Veronica wasn't interested in who was getting a story here, who was getting a story there.

Veronica competed with herself.

People remember the Bishop Casey story.

But had that been her last story, we wouldn't be sitting here today, nor would she be regarded as one of the best investigative journalists ever.

She would have been regarded as a journalist who got a lucky break with the Eamon Casey interview.

And I think that's the difference.

But yes, competitive.

Veronica competed with the best, which was herself.

Well, Veronica was always interested in the effect that drugs was having on society.

And I'll just give you an example of that.

In 1982, it was the centenary of Eamon de Valera and Fianna Fáil, which Veronica and myself would have been members of, had a debate, a national debate, to present one of these big busts of Eamon de Valera.

And I entered that.

And Veronica and I, she worked with me on London's Beach, but in that debate in 1982, we called for a body to seize the home of then Christie Dunn, who was one of the big heroin dealers.

So that was 15 years before the criminal assets bureau.