Despite their anguish and for more than a decade, the O’Farrell family has courageously fought for the truth about what happened to Shane. Tonight, I welcome the family to the House and express my admiration for their bravery, endurance and resilience, and for their refusal to abandon justice for their son and brother. I wish them solidarity and strength for the future and for the fight that is as yet unfinished. The O’Farrell family continues to walk a long, hard, painful road and all too often are met with stone walls and silence. Where the State should be facilitating this family to get to the truth, barriers and hurdles are erected time and again and the State has circled the wagons.
As my colleague, Deputy Carthy, stated, it has been alleged for a long time that Zigimantas Gridziuska was a Garda informer. He was a criminal with 42 criminal convictions who should have been in prison when he knocked down Shane and left him to die. Serious questions as to how this man was not behind bars at that time remain unanswered. If he was where he should have been, he would not have hit Shane with his car. Five years ago, the Dáil supported a motion for a public inquiry into Shane’s death. Far from being an avenue to truth, the scoping exercise established by the Government has proven to be yet another barrier. It is crystal clear now – it has always been clear – that the only route to the full truth and full justice for Shane and his family is the full public inquiry this House backed as far back as 2018.
We should not forget that the ultimate responsibility of the State is to protect and vindicate the rights of citizens. On that score, the O’Farrells have been failed time and again. Quite frankly, that needs to be put right so that Shane’s memory can truly finally rest in peace.
