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

To follow on from that, I want to warmly welcome Lucia and her family here today. I also think it is a tragedy that they have to be here this morning to listen to this all over again. To repeat, in 2018 this House passed a motion for a public inquiry into the events leading up to the death of Shane O'Farrell. In February 2019, the Seanad passed a similar motion. We do not have that inquiry.

We do, however, have a scoping exercise. Judge Gerard Haughton admits in his report there were concerns in the Department of Justice regarding suggested changes in the terms of reference, suggestions proposed by the family to the judge who gave them guarantees that their terms of reference would be taken into account. They have been amended and removed from the terms of reference.

I want to know couple of things. Like Deputy Carthy, the key question that has to be answered is why this report and the Department of Justice are constantly dealing with the events on the night. The first seven paragraphs of the report are all about the condition of Shane's bicycle, whether there were reflectors on it and the speed at which he was cycling. There is less and less as one goes through the report about the actual killer and the fact he was before seven courts and on bail before five or seven courts, or the fact that a judge in a court in Monaghan said, "If this man offends again I want him back here to jail him". That never happened.

What was going on with the gardaí is the question. Why was a killer, who was out on bail, allowed to kill? Why do we have a scoping exercise that offends the family and addresses the condition of the victim more than the killer? This is a pure victim blaming exercise. It has to be dismissed and a public inquiry established by this House and the Seanad.

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