John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Lucia O'Farrell, her husband and family in the Visitors Gallery. They held a press conference this morning, at which they highlighted the fact that the man who had killed Shane O'Farrell had had 42 convictions. He had never been in prison for anything. On the night in question, the registration number of the car was flagged on the Garda's system. The driver was uninsured and the car had no NCT certificate. The people in the car who were known to the Garda were all under suspicion. I am asking for a public inquiry. Twenty Deputies attended the press conference and all agree that there is a need for a public inquiry. The Taoiseach has referred to the dark secrets in the country's history. This is another dark secret, one that tells a story about a catalogue of failures from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions all the way down to the investigating gardaí. If the Government ignores it, it will be ignoring the failures of the State to the O'Farrell family.

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