Why has the Wee County borne witness to so much violence?

The fact that Garda Tony Golden was murdered in Co Louth has shaken the local force to its core once again

Garda Tony Goldens funeral taking place in Blackrock, Co Louth, last Thursday Picture: Collins

By the time he moved the short journey south of the border from Co Down to the Cooley peninsula, Adrian Crevan Mackin was already beating his partner, threatening social workers and had accessed extreme pornographic images on his mobile phone.

By moving into a house in Omeath, two kilometres from the border, Crevan Mackin was able to continue his interest in violence by maintaining contact with the dissident Republicans who have maintained a ...