Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the previous speaker for her passion and the fact she spoke the truth for all of us. We will all repeat this message for the next while. I begin by welcoming Jim and Lucia here this evening. I cannot imagine what sort of day you have had. I watched the Dáil debate earlier. For the second time, you have heard effectively the same message from the Minister.

I commend the family of Shane O'Farrell, especially his mother, Lucia, and father, Jim, for their determination and dignity in their search for truth and justice for Shane, who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while out cycling in August 2011. For parents, the loss of a child is unbearable, but Shane's family has carried the immense loss of Shane, who was only 23 years old at the time of his killing, while campaigning for the truth about the circumstances of his killing.

For the past 12 years, the O'Farrell family has been through a mind-boggling institutional nightmare, involving the Garda, the courts system, the Oireachtas and Ministers, in the search for justice. The family received the full support of the Dáil in a Fianna Fáil motion put forward by Deputy Jim O'Callaghan in 2018 calling for an inquiry into the investigation into Shane's death by the Garda. The facts of the case are alarming and add to the family's grief as they deal with the Byzantine world of the police and justice system.

The driver of the car which killed Shane, Zigimantas Gridziuska, pleaded guilty to hit-and-run charges and received a suspended eight-month sentence on condition he returned to Lithuania. The leniency of the sentence was outrageous and deeply offensive to the family. The outrage was added to when a Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, investigation found he had several previous convictions, was out on bail at the time he killed Shane and may have been a police informer. He had received a six-month prison sentence which he did not serve due to a clerical error in the courts. Prior to the killing of Shane, no attempt was made by the Garda to arrest him. Had gardaí arrested him, Shane O'Farrell would be alive today.

In 2019, the then Minister for Justice, Deputy Charles Flanagan, set up a scoping inquiry into Shane's death, carried out by District Court Judge Gerard Haughton. At the time, the family believed the then Minister and his Department were narrowing the terms of reference of the inquiry. The family subsequently withdrew their co-operation with the scoping inquiry and said they regretted being involved with it. In a press statement, the family said it was very disappointed with the scoping exercise report and that it was regrettable it had to issue a press release to deal with outstanding matters arising from a report which was brought to the attention of Judge Haughton, the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, and the Department of Justice and which remain unanswered.

The family's statement made a number of pertinent criticisms of the report. The scoping exercise was set up to decide whether there was a need for a further inquiry. Despite the abundance of unresolved issues relating to the killing of Shane and subsequent issues, the judge concluded not to recommend an inquiry. The family was very concerned that the judge was not supplied with nor did he request the underlying GSOC statutory reports which formed part of the terms of reference and appear essential to the exercise, including the effect of Zigimantas Gridziuska not serving a custodial sentence and the question of whether he was an informer.

The family also described it as offensive for the judge to make findings in respect of Shane and the circumstances of his death while excluding the trial of Zigimantas Gridziuska and adopting a victim blaming narrative. The family refute Government claims that the report is complete, based on its length. The report fails to answer the fundamental questions or explain how or why Zigimantas Gridziuska was at liberty on 2 August 2011 when, for a period of two years, he had repeatedly committed offences on bail and breached bail conditions imposed on him by the District and Circuit Courts. Neither does the report address whether members of An Garda Síochána were aware of these breaches.

The family's very firm view is that Shane's case raises serious issues about the criminal justice system, bail, previous convictions, coroners' inquests, the effectiveness of GSOC and the transparency around using informers by members of the Garda. Regarding coroners' inquests, the Minister has yet to outline serious reforms to the system despite an Irish Council of Civil Liberties, ICCL, report recommending sweeping reforms. GSOC has been largely set up to fail in most instances. The new policing reforms provide it with more ability to investigate Garda misconduct and wrongdoing. The Shane O'Farrell case demonstrates the need for these reforms to be urgently implemented, as does the recommendation from the ICCL that the power of prosecution be removed from the Garda and given to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP. There are clear legal issues which remain unresolved.

The family deserves answers, accountability and closure. The family wants the Government to commit to what the Oireachtas resolved to do, namely, hold a full public inquiry. Everything else has turned out to be inadequate and has only added to the family's pain. The available State processes have failed the family. They seek an effective investigation of the true and full circumstances of Shane's unlawful killing. They believe the only way to achieve this is for the Government to establish a public inquiry.

In her speech, the Minister said, "It is clear from reading the report that Judge Haughton carried out a very thorough review of all relevant material and has produced a robust and measured report." Nobody believes that. I do not believe anyone in this room believes that. To be frank, I do not believe the Minister believes that.

We all know the way politics works in here most of the time, which is that Ministers come in, often with the best of intentions, but are told there are limits to what they can do and say and are handed a script. This is one of the occasions when we need to put away the script. This is not a party political issue; this is an issue of justice. All of the events around the killing of Shane demand a public inquiry and we all know that.

As I have said a couple of times, few of us are here for very long and afterwards we need to reflect on what we did during our time here in terms of fundamental questions of justice. Everybody knows something horrifically wrong has happened to our system in relation to Shane O'Farrell. It comprises a bizarre set of circumstances, the like of which I have never seen or heard of. So many people can see that something fundamentally wrong has happened, yet the Minister has come in here this evening, just as she did in the Dáil, to say there is nothing to see here. She has said the report is clear and measured. It is nothing of the kind.

The Minister owes more to the family, including Lucia and Jim. If she does not deliver that, then she will have to live with that for the rest of her life. I do not think she should. I agree entirely with the previous speaker. We should all unite around this issue, put down another motion and insist on what the Dáil and Seanad have already voted for coming to pass. We need a full public inquiry and, finally, justice for Shane O'Farrell.