Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was in my office earlier listening to the Minister defending the indefensible and I was disappointed with the contributions of both Ministers to the debate tonight. The O'Farrell family are in the Gallery. No words of ours can console them in their loss but, as a Parliament, we should recognise that things were not done correctly and this needs to change.

Crimes committed by people out on bail and with multiple previous convictions is a serious issue within our justice system. In Shane's case, however, the outcome was to prove tragic, and indeed fatal. Shane died following a road traffic accident in Monaghan in August 2011, in a hit and run by a man who had 42 previous convictions. At the time he killed Shane, he was on bail in respect of a number of offences. He had breached the conditions of his bail bonds and was serving suspended sentences which would have been activated had the courts been informed of his convictions. Had the criminal justice system been functioning properly he would not have been at liberty on the day he killed Shane.

The O'Farrell family have worked tirelessly seeking to get justice for their only son and brother. The State has failed them in the manner in which the death of Shane was investigated, the State has failed them in the manner in which the death of Shane was prosecuted and the State is continuing to fail them in the manner in which their complaints around investigation and prosecution have been handled by GSOC.

Shane's death is a personal tragedy for the O'Farrell family and it is also a tragedy in terms of the light it has shone on the dysfunctionality of many elements of our criminal justice system. The courts are over-reliant on the information being provided by An Garda Síochána and it is clear that the GSOC inquiry has been a total failure. We are six years into the process and the O'Farrells have no more answers than they had when the process started. The only thing that can be gleaned from the report is that the Government needs to step in and establish a commission of investigation so that we, as a nation, can learn from this awful tragedy. The O'Farrells have to be commended on the courageous and dignified manner in which they are pursuing justice for Shane.

The facts of the matter are clear. Mr. Gradzuiska should not have been at liberty at the time he killed Shane and fled the scene, abandoning his car and hiding it. He had been released on bail on numerous offences and had breached his bail bonds, yet he had not been brought before the courts for these breaches. There was a litany of offences in the eight months before he killed Shane. He was convicted of theft in Monaghan Circuit Court and his sentencing was adjourned, with the judge saying that if he was convicted of other theft or fraud offences he would be brought back before the court and jailed. Four months later, he was convicted of theft again but not brought back before the Monaghan court. Two days later, he was in Dundalk Circuit Court, then Carrickmacross District Court, and he was then convicted of theft in Newry but still he was not brought back before the Monaghan Circuit Court. In Monaghan District Court, he was convicted of having no tax disc, which adds irony to the story. The list goes on and on. No steps were taken by the gardaí to ensure this man was put behind bars.

An hour before Shane was killed, Mr. Gradzuiska was pulled over by gardaí. The vehicle was being driven by an uninsured driver and did not have a valid NCT certificate. Rather than seize the car, the gardaí switched Mr. Gradzuiska from being a passenger to being the driver. They failed to consider whether he had valid insurance and failed to use the opportunity to arrest him for his bail breaches. He was well known to An Garda Síochána, Interpol and the PSNI. He had an extensive criminal record, with more than 40 previous convictions for a variety of offences. The gardaí failed to check if he held valid insurance on the day Shane was killed and failed to charge Mr. Gradzuiska with having no insurance. The gardaí failed to check in good time the validity of Mr. Gradzuiska's insurance following Shane's death and, as a result, the charge related to this issue became statute barred. The gardaí failed to object to bail when he was first charged with Shane's death, despite his history of breaching bail conditions. He failed to honour the bail conditions attaching to his bail for offences relating to the death of Shane but still the gardaí failed to do anything to revoke his bail and he continued to commit offences.

The O'Farrell family deserves to get proper answers and our motion today is trying to ensure that that happens.

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