The brother of the murdered journalist Veronica Guerin has asked members of the Oireachtas to support calls for Virgin Media to reconsider broadcasting further interviews with John Gilligan.
The convicted drug trafficker, who was the leader of the gang responsible for Ms Guerin's murder in June 1996, is the subject of a three-part television documentary on the station.
In a letter to the politicians today, Jimmy Guerin requests they "publicly support" calls from the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton for Virgin to reconsider its decision to broadcast the programmes.
He said they have been "most upsetting" to the Guerin family and have caused "unnecessary pain".
Mr Guerin describes Gilligan as an "amoral individual" who has been given a platform to "peddle his lies and tarnish Veronica's reputation and legacy".
The second episode of the three-part documentary is due to be broadcast next Monday.
Speaking recently on RTÉ Radio's This Week on Sunday, one of the documentary makers David Harvey rejected the possibility that the documentary series would be a glorification of Gilligan.
The CEO of Peninsula Television, who is also a member of the RTÉ Board, said: "We've had other programmes like this in the past, but to suggest that we are out glorifying Gilligan is simply ridiculous."
Mr Harvey contended the programmes would be balanced, with the views of significant figures, including former gardaí and journalists, who would "disabuse the ideas that John Gilligan put forward".
