Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)

The main thing I want to do is to pay tribute, as has been done by many others, to Lucia, Jim and Shane's sisters. For 14 years, you should have been able to grieve and live your lives. Instead, you had to fight for justice.

We should remember that the family was not fighting for justice against nobody. The state was on the other side and was blocking the search for justice. The State apology is a vindication of what the family has been fighting for for 14 years.

It has to be over ten years ago that I met Lucia because I was an MEP at the time. I remember her specifically making the point about Shane being a UCD law graduate, as I was. What struck me was the burning indignation and anger at the injustice, how Shane had been killed and should not have been killed. That was combined with what others have referred to, namely the forensic detail of how this happened and how it simply should not have happened at many points down the line because Gridziuska was free and in a position to be driving that car.

I sincerely welcome the apology. Effectively, it is a repudiation of the results of the scoping inquiry. That inquiry found that the State had nothing to apologise for, had nothing to inquire into and that there was no need for a public inquiry. The outcome of the extremely lengthy scoping document, which went far beyond what we normally think of as scoping, was to say that the State had nothing to apologise for. It is effectively a repudiation of the role GSOC played and of the latter's reports. That should be recognised.

I really welcome the apology, but I also emphasise that an apology is not a replacement for the truth. There is a need to go further. The Minister was at pains to emphasise that the facts are known. He said we could spend many years inquiring into these facts that are already known. He said that what he is doing "will not need to establish any facts since the relevant facts are already known." I just worry, and I take my lead fully from the family on this. An important fact is sitting unanswered and not mentioned by the Minister. In 2018, the Minister stated in the House:

Tragedies happen in families throughout this country but the reason the tragedy of Shane O'Farrell merits public discussion and debate in this House and public investigation is because it reveals a very significant inadequacy and inefficiency at the heart of the criminal justice system.

What is still not known and what is not stated is why. There has been failure upon failure of the criminal justice system. Was that simply inefficiencies in the system or was it something more? Was Gridziuska protected because he was an informant for the Garda? That is a significant question that remains unanswered and that has wider implications. I again my lead from the family, but I still feel there are Garda papers to be published in this regard. We could do with having clarity on that matter.

We should not have to be here dealing with apologies. We should not need to have future apologies. This month marks the 20th anniversary of Terence Wheelock's death. His family will be on the streets this Saturday still fighting for justice and still demanding a public inquiry. They and others take inspiration from the O'Farrell family.

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