Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I salute the family and in particular Lucia. Anyone who knows her is completely gobsmacked by her intelligence, decency, honesty, absolute determination and her deep love for her son. If the Minister has not yet met her, believe me when I say that she will not go away until this is brought to a conclusion.

This is a tragic case of the failure of State and its agencies to protect one of its citizens. If the State fails to protect one of its citizens it fails to protect all. Shane O'Farrell was failed by the State because his killer was free to drive despite 18 breaches of bail conditions. The failure to protect has been worsened, and insult has been added to the injury, by the actions of State agencies even up to yesterday’s intervention by the Taoiseach on the matter during Questions on Promised Legislation. The Taoiseach stated yesterday that the GSOC inquiry found that many of the 58 allegations made by the family were found to be incorrect. I put it to the Minister that the report did not say that at all. The Taoiseach's assertion is a real insult to the family after what they have been through.

The main concerns I have about Shane’s case also reflect wider failures of the system that may also affect other cases of injustice. The catastrophic failures in this case were by the gardaí who come from the same division and area of the Sergeant Maurice McCabe case. They have a history, to say the least, of underperforming and a lack of transparency in dealing with system failures. That senior gardaí in the area acted incompetently is not up for debate.

It is a scandal that the GSOC investigation into the circumstances around Shane's death took five years. It is also a scandal that the report was not published for a further year. The Minister has said that GSOC did not immediately publish the report so as not to cause further undue distress to the O'Farrell family. This is why the family have had to wait to see a report that was published one year ago. Will the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, please explain what he meant by "undue distress" and by holding on to the report for a further year? I do not understand how this makes sense. I know that the family also does not understand how it makes sense.

To make matters worse, within the five years of the GSOC investigation the family was consistently fobbed off with a routine answer that was "You cannot talk about that matter, it is with GSOC". When People Before Profit first came into the Dáil in 2016 Deputy Gino Kenny and I asked questions about the case and we were told that we could not talk about it because it was with GSOC. The previous Minister for Justice and Equality repeatedly said that the independent review mechanism had looked at the case. The independent review mechanism did not look at this case. I am struck by the number of times that the stock answer given to questions around Shane's murder was that the independent review mechanism had advised no further action be taken. That did not happen.

The body of two senior barristers that was instructed to look at 109 cases was told not to look at Shane's case because it was with GSOC. It is highly irregular that this has not come into the public arena until now. One of those very senior barristers represented Shane's murderer in court. I am aware, from speaking with her, that Lucia O'Farrell had offered to pay for better representation for her son. The Director of Public Prosecution said no, there was a certain budget and the family must hire junior counsel. The court, however, awarded Shane's killer both junior and senior counsel. Lucia O'Farrell had offered to pay for better representation. Even at that level, the representation afforded to the killer and the person who was killed was entirely imbalanced. There is something very wrong here that needs to be examined. Shane was represented by a junior counsel and his killer was represented by more than one: a junior and a senior counsel. I would like the Minister to address this please.

The GSOC report is scant and poor. This is an understatement, especially after five years of work. We need a full public inquiry into Shane's death, into the failures of the gardaí to protect him, into the failures of the courts to get justice from his killer, into the failures of the prosecution services, into the failures in the review mechanism which did not review the case and into the failures of GSOC for this completely inadequate report.

I repeat the call to the Minister to establish a commission of investigation, to look for accountability, to look for real answers to the complaints that were made and to allow the family finally to grieve. The State has an ugly history of hiding the truth, be it the truth on mothers and babies, or adoptees through agencies. Please do not let history repeat itself again. Please do not drag the family through more banging and knocking on the doors of the State to get truth and justice for their son. If the Minister thinks that Lucia O'Farrell is going to go away, or that the issue is going to go away, he has not met her. We have witnessed the cross-party support in the House to demand a public inquiry. It is very encouraging to see everyone putting their shoulders to the wheel. We will maintain this unity until there is justice for the family.

See this speech in context