Here's a statistic for you: around 5 percent of all homicides in Ireland since 2004 have been committed by professional killers.
In light of the Kinahan-Hutch gangland killings last year, it might not be all that surprising. But in a new documentary for TV3 ‘Assassins: Ireland's Contract Killers’, criminologist David Wilson has collaborated journalist Donal MacIntyre to find out why people choose to kill for a living.
David was Ryan Tubridy's guest on Tuesday. He has spent his career working with some of the most notorious criminals in the UK and, as he explained, "contract killing is a phenomenon, not just in Ireland but in mainland Europe…But virtually no one has been taking this issue seriously."
He undertook his own peer-reviewed research on contract killers and found there are four types of assassin:
"There were novices, there were dilettantes, there were journeymen and there were master hitmen."
The documentary series, starting next week on TV3, features case studies of infamous Irish contract killings by crime figures including Eamon "The Don" Dunne and Paddy Doyle.
The pathway into this career is often motivated by "hyper masculinity", as David explained. "They're often in a few difficult sets of personal circumstances, they're trying to make their reputation…and one of the ways they can do that is by selling their propensity to take risks and commit violence."
Although keen to understand the factors that feed into the creation of violent criminals so as to minimise the chances of future killers being created, David never loses sight of one important fact in their existence.
"The tragedy is that these people do create victims," he said, "I've always been about creating fewer victims."
To listen to the full interview, click here.