“A young, vibrant life has been destroyed”.
President Michael D Higgins has led the tributes to 29-year-old journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead during a riot in Derry City last night.
The President says Lyra was a woman of "talent and commitment" who was shot while doing her job.
Tanaiste Simon Coveney echoed those sentiments, saying there's "no justification for this tragic loss of life".
While DUP leader Arlene Foster has called it a "senseless act", something Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O'Neill agreed with saying it's a "senseless loss of life".
Ms O'Neill addressed the media earlier:
Lyra was described as one of the most promising journalists in Northern Ireland by the Natinal Union of Jurnalists and said a "young, vibrant life has been destroyed".
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also condemned the murder, and said 'we can't allow those who want to propagate violence, fear and hate to drag us into the past.'
29-year-old Lyra McKeeTerrorist act.
Police in Derry have labelled the killing of Ms McKee as a terrorist act.
The PSNI have been quoted as saying the New IRA are most likely to be behind the killing.
Assistant chief constable Mark Hamilton spoke to the media earlier today: ''Clearly it is reckless,'' he said, ''orchestrated to the point where they just want to have violence and primarily in this occasion to attack police.''
''But bringing a firearm out and firing it down the street in a residential area where they knew a lot of people were standing about is a calculated and callous act, and can only be designed to hurt and kill people.
''Bullets stop somewhere, and in this occasion it stopped fatally.''
Lyra McKee's murder comes on the 21st anniversary of the Good Friday agreement.
Investigations continue.
