MR JAMES GUERIN, the brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin, said last night he had sought meetings with Independent Newspapers last week to discuss his concerns about the protection which his sister had been given by her employers.
A spokesman for Independent Newspapers late last night declined to comment farther.
Earlier, Mr Guerin had issued a statement criticising Independent Newspapers after the inquest on his sister was adjourned in Swords, Co Dublin. His comments revealed a division within the family over the issue with other relatives, including Ms Guerin's husband, Mr Graham Turley, dissociating themselves from his statement.
Last night, in a second statement issued through his solicitors Mr Guerin said that his failure to obtain a meeting with newspaper executives prompted him to make his comments.
Mr Guerin said he first wrote to the editor of the Sunday Independent, Mr Aengus Fanning, and the company chairman, Dr Tony O'Reilly, on January 9th this year and again on Friday and Monday last. However, a meeting was refused, he said.
"By refusing to meet with me in. private they have forced me to raise these matters at Veronica's inquest today knowing it would cause further pain for members of Veronica's family," he said.
"Maybe now the Independent will stop debating this painful issue in public and I call upon Independent Newspapers to meet with me now to answer the concerns I have had since before Veronica's death."
In his statement read by his solicitor after the inquest was adjourned, Mr Guerin criticised the Sunday Independent, claiming that it failed to protect his sister.
He said that the newspaper's management had taken "more care to protect the circulation of the newspaper than they did to protect Veronica".
A statement by other members of Ms Guerin's family dissociated them from her brother's comments and strongly repudiated any inference that she was no more than a pawn in the hands of her employers.
"It goes without saying that Veronica's death affected us all deeply and the family's sense of loss continues. But it is our belief that statements such as that made by Jimmy Guerin only serve to exacerbate our grief."
Mr Fanning strongly rejected Mr Guerin's statement and later added that no communication whatever from him had been received by the Sunday Independent at any time before Ms Guerin's death.