Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

The death of any person on our roads is a tragedy. The death of a child is a tragic hardship that no parent should have to bear. Shane O'Farrell was just 23 years old when he was struck and killed while out cycling near his home in Carrickmacross. The driver fled and while the man who took Shane's life handed himself into An Garda the next day, it seems as if in the intervening 14 years there has been a broad flight from justice and accountability on the part of the State.

I welcome that Shane O'Farrell and his family have received an apology today. Despite questions remaining unanswered and crucial reports being denied to the O'Farrell family to this day, it is an acknowledgement that the State has done something for which it must apologise. Shane O'Farrell had every right to be on the road that night. The man who killed him did not and he was a career criminal with a dozen convictions in Lithuania.

He racked up more than double that in offences here on his crime spree across the north east. It is simply not credible that the series of events that surrounded and led to the death of Shane O'Farrell can be explained away as a litany of errors.

While this overdue apology is welcome, it can only be the beginning in answering what this State did when it denied the O'Farrell family their right to grieve in peace, when they were forced to fight every single step of the way against the State, which often said all the right things in public, denying them the truth, justice and the opportunity to grieve in privacy and peace at every opportunity. If this apology is to be meaningful, it is incumbent on the Government to change the laws and ensure that we have a system that works. How can we be certain that no other family will go through what the O'Farrells have gone through? My judgment will be guided by the O'Farrell family, who are working tirelessly in the name of justice for their son and brother Shane. They have done more than Minister, any judge or report to ensure that no other family goes through what they have gone through again. I commend and thank Lucia, Jim, Gemma, Pia, Aimee and Hannah.

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