Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I want to begin by welcoming members of the O'Farrell family to the House. I am conscious that for Shane's parents, Lucia and Jim, and his for his four sisters, Hannah, Gemma, Aimee and Pia, this very far from your first time in this House, or in the environs of Government Buildings. I had the honour of meeting you when I served as Minister for Justice. I was in awe of you all. I was in awe of your family and I was in awe of the might of a mother fighting for justice for her son. I saw at first hand your fortitude and determination to secure justice for Shane, your only son, your only brother, who was so cruelly taken from you. When I met you, we sat for hours as you remembered Shane. The pain was as raw as the day you lost him. Throughout that meeting, you brought to life a kind, happy, generous and determined young man. He was a sports lover and an exceptionally bright individual. He was a son, a brother and a friend. We can all attest to the strength of the Irish mother. Shane was blessed with a very special mother, who along with his father and his sisters, has championed his cause day in and day out for 14 long years. Lucia, you and your family have ensured that his name is heard and echoed in the corridors of power.

The commitment you have shown to this campaign is a tribute to a mother's love for her son, but also a family's pursuit of justice and truth. I hope that today, in some small way, we can start to heal the wounds left by Shane's untimely death. I know the agonising pain of Shane's tragic death near Carrickmacross in County Monaghan on 2 August 2011 has since been borne alongside your long campaign against the injustice of his killing. It is beyond regrettable that it is so often the case that the interactions of victims and their families with the State are so prolonged as to feel adversarial. I know that this, too, has exacerbated your already unimaginable pain.

I know Shane's death plunged your tight-knit community in County Monaghan into the depths of grief and numbness. The community had lost one of its own. Shane was a 23-year-old young law graduate with his entire life, a bright future, all ahead of him. The harrowing events of that day in August 2011 were just the beginning of a living nightmare for the O'Farrell family. Nothing we can do or say today will take away the pain of his loss but I hope the steps that we are taking will help bring some sense of closure and some small sense of comfort.

Today, we acknowledge failures in the Courts Service and the criminal justice system that exposed Shane to danger on the fateful day of his tragic death. My colleague, the Minister for Justice, will formally deliver a public apology to the O'Farrell family very shortly on behalf of the Government. The Government made a number of decisions, on the recommendation of the Minister and arising from the campaign of the O'Farrell family, that we hope will bring about meaningful changes. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, will outline these decisions in detail. They are rightly intended to directly respond to the failings we are acknowledging today. I commend the Minister for bringing forward these measures and for proposing these Dáil statements today.

Nothing we can do or say can ever make up for the grief or sorrow of the O'Farrell family and the anguish of their long campaign for justice,but I hope that an apology today and the actions we are taking alongside it may be some balm for the pain that you bear. I hope you will take some comfort in having translated that pain into changes that should, and must, protect others in the way that Shane should have been protected, so that other families do not endure the suffering that you have. Shane's memory lives on in this and in so many ways, thanks to your enduring love and your inexhaustible resilience. Thank your again for being here today, for the Government to deliver this statement. As Tánaiste, I fully endorse and support the apology that will now be given by the Minister for Justice.

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