In January 2011, Judge O’Hagan told this man that if he messed up again he would be brought back before the court. Yet he committed 11 more offences between January 2011 and August 2011 before the night on which Shane O’Farrell was killed. We have other accounts of an unmarked Garda car coming across the man who killed Shane O’Farrell an hour before he died. With all this evidence existing, Shane O’Farrell’s family has been undertaking a campaign for 12 years to get justice for their son. The 400-page report from Judge Haughton gives the impression it is comprehensive. What it does, effectively, however, is to blame Shane O’Farrell.
I am a cyclist and have been caught many times on the road at night without high-visibility clothing or lights. It was inadvertent and I never intended it. I take extreme care. From everything in Shane O’Farrell’s character, we know he would also have taken extreme care. Yet the bottom line in the judge’s report is that Shane O’Farrell is to blame for his death. Someone on bail for one offence should not, of course, go to jail. We do not have space in our jail system to take in everybody who commits an offence. The man concerned in this incident, though, was on bail for having committed multiple offences and the Garda system did not pick this up. It is important that we say here today that while we now have the outcome of the scoping exercise undertaken by Judge Haughton, this cannot be the end of the matter. We need justice for Shane O’Farrell and his family.
