Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague Deputy Carthy for tabling this motion. When I entered the Seanad, it was my colleague Deputy Pádraig MacLochlainn who first told me this absolutely unbelievable story.

It is as unbelievable today as it was then.

I am absolutely astonished that the best the Minister can provide is that she will write to the justice committee to allow it time. Time? How much more time do the O'Farrell family have to go through? The Minister is a mother. I am a mother. My son is almost 23. That is what Shane O'Farrell was. There is something radically wrong here. Things just do not add up. Matt outlined all the reasons why things do not stand up. The "why" to all this just has not been answered. The Minister says it does not meet the threshold. My God, that is insulting to the family, who have come this journey. It is wrong to wave through this motion only for the family of Shane O'Farrell to be again left waiting and waiting, without any real reaction. I urge the Fianna Fáil TDs here, and I accept what Deputy McGuinness says, not to let this happen. If being in government means anything, it means tackling the injustice we see before our eyes here. Shane O'Farrell's memory is worth more than this. It is worth more than a scoping exercise. The Minister has to use the last few months in government to make things happen and to make this happen.

I welcome Lucia, Jim and the rest of the O'Farrell family here and commend them. They should not have to do this. No mother, father, brother or sister should have to do what they have had to do. There will be an independent public inquiry. Why not have it now? Why not have it under the Minister's watch? Why not have it under the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Government? It will happen because Lucia O'Farrell is not going to give up and we are going to stand with her. This is wrong.

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