Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In July, Shane O'Farrell's patients, Lucia and Jim, received a copy of the final scoping exercise report into Shane's death. The process took over three years. It is important to acknowledge that every State-sponsored mechanism by which the family have sought to secure the truth of the events leading to Shane's death has taken an inexcusable time to be completed, with the strategy being delay, delay, delay at every turn.

Along with every party in the House, the Taoiseach shares the view that a full inquiry is needed to reveal what he described as the "shocking malpractice and dysfunction within the criminal justice system". In truth, it is the family who have done the heavy lifting and who have uncovered the true scale of these appalling failures - failures that continued for many years after Shane was killed. We know from a recent media report that the Courts Service has warned its board of potential reputational risk once the report is published. It is the O'Farrell family who uncovered the full extent of the Courts Service's failures. The O'Farrell family have been repeatedly let down by the State in the most horrific of ways.

These are matters of significant public interest. Will the Government establish an inquiry, as the Dáil overwhelmingly called for many years ago?

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