Dáil debates

Tuesday, 12 June 2018

Death of Shane O'Farrell: Motion [Private Members]

 

9:45 pm

Photo of Gino KennyGino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to address what the Minister said earlier about withdrawing the remark about the GSOC report. I will not be withdrawing any remark. I will reiterate what I said earlier. It was a complete whitewash. I would like the Minister to withdraw his remark that I was jumping on some bandwagon because this report was a whitewash. It was an insult to the O'Farrell family. Shane would be still here now if it were not for the failings of the police and the State. Shane should be living his life but on the night of 2 August 2011, everything changed because this was an accident waiting to happen. There was a systemic failure on the part of the powers that are supposed to protect every citizen in this county - the police, the legal system and the State. They failed not only Shane but the O'Farrell family. What the O'Farrell are looking for is very simple. They cannot bring Shane back but they can get justice and truth. That is the simple narrative of what the family is looking for today.

I watched the documentary last night on the terrible Grenfell Tower fire that claimed so many lives in London. The narrative of that documentary was that the fire was completely preventable and the relatives of those who died want justice. In terms of all the tragedies that happened in Britain and Ireland, the families and the public want justice. That is what the O'Farrell are looking for today.

Many comments were made in this Chamber tonight and also in the debate ten days ago. Again, the family are asking for a public inquiry. The GSOC report was empty of anything substantial. It took six years to come up with that report. That is an insult to anybody's intelligence. It is an insult to the family that after six years, GSOC could not come up with something such as a criminal investigation against certain members of the police in Cavan and Monaghan. There is no doubt that Shane O'Farrell would be alive today if it were not for the litany of complete failures by the police force. On that matter and in Shane's memory, the family deserve truth, justice and a public inquiry. That should be the case not only for that family but for every citizen in this country. If the Minister does not provide for that, it will be a stain on his time here as Minister for Justice and Equality. I ask him to give the family a public inquiry.

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