The Government is to appoint a senior counsel to examine the conditions under which a repeat offender can be granted bail while awaiting trial.
The move was announced as part of a public apology by the Government to the family of a Co Monaghan cyclist who was killed in a hit-and-run incident almost 14 years ago.
Shane O'Farrell was knocked off his bicycle and fatally injured by a driver who should have been in jail at the time.
The Government has also admitted that there were "failures" on the part of the State in relation to the death of the 23-year-old law graduate.
Watch: Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan delivers apology to O’Farrell family
The Government has appointed Lorcan Staines SC to review the State’s bail laws and make any recommendations that he believes to be appropriate.
However, the coalition stopped short of announcing that a full public inquiry be established into the circumstances that ultimately resulted in Shane O’Farrell’s death.
Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan delivered the public apology in the Dáil to the family of Mr O'Farrell.
"The loss resulting from his death was incalculable and for the family, interminable," Mr O'Callaghan told the chamber.
"The justice system that operated at the time exposed Shane to a threat to which he should not have been exposed to."
He said he needed no inquiry to establish more facts, saying the facts were well established "in order to face up to my responsibility as Minister for Justice and the State's responsibility".
He said he humbly gives an apology to the O'Farrell family.
Mr O'Callaghan said the primary responsibility for Shane's death lied with Zigimantas Gridziuska, who was driving the car that hit Mr O'Farrell as he was cycling near his home in Carrickmacross.
He read out the facts of Gridziuska's criminal behaviour in the 24 months before Shane's death.
The Lithuanian national was a repeat offender on bail. A court ruling meant he should have been in jail at the time of the collision.
Mr O'Callaghan said the first failing by the State related to Gridziuska's appeal documentation, which was not recorded.
The second failing occured when, despite further offences, Gridziuska was not brought before Judge John O'Hagan, who had granted bail, nor was the judge told of these later offences.
Had those convictions been brought to the judge's attention, Gridziuska would probably have been jailed, the minister said.
Mr O'Callaghan also announced that the Government will make an amendment to road traffic legislation.
This will allow a jury to convict a person of the lesser offence of careless driving where a trial judge directs the acquittal of a person for the more serious offence of dangerous driving.
Such a conviction is not currently open to a jury under law and has now become apparent after a review of Gridziuska’s appearances before the courts.
Mr O’Callaghan said that he has requested that Mr Staines’ report be finalised and presented to him within four months of his engagement.
He said: "I have asked that he identify any necessary changes that need to be made to our laws in relation to bail and/or suspended sentences.
"This is not a report that needs to establish facts, since these facts are very readily apparent from the charges laid against Gridziuska in the years leading up to the death of Shane O’Farrell.
"It will not result in people having to invoke their In Re Haughey rights and lawyering up in a process that would inevitably take years. More importantly, it will not need to establish any facts since the relevant facts are already known," he added.
The Government also announced that a scholarship in memory of Shane O'Farrell is to be established.
Mr O’Callaghan said: "I am honoured to announced that the Department of Justice will fund every year a scholarship in the name of Shane O’Farrell that will be awarded to a student who distinguishes him or herself in the Master's of Law degree at University College Dublin.
"The Shane O’Farrell award will confer on its recipients in perpetuity the honour of the excellence by which Shane lived his short and exemplary life."
In a statement after the apology, the O'Farrell family said it welcomes what it described as a "long-overdue apology for the catalogue of systemic failures that led to Shane’s death".
The family added that it hopes that the apology is a "watershed" for the state bodies engaged in the administration of justice, and what happened to Shane will never be repeated.
"The criminal justice system did not protect Shane, the family said.
"Shane's case raises serious issues about the criminal justice system including issues around the implementation of our bail laws, presentation of previous convictions, mishandling of repeat offenders, acting on warrants, information supplied to Coroner's Inquests, the effectiveness of GSOC, and transparency around the use of informers by members of the gardaí," they added.
For over a decade, the O'Farrell family have called for a public inquiry to be set up into the aspects of the system that they say "failed" Shane.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
'Disastrous' legal decision cost Shane his life, says Sinn Féin leader
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the "wagons were circled and ranks closed" against the O'Farrell family, who proceeded with tenacity to find out what had happened to Shane.
A "disastrous" legal decision cost Mr O'Farrell his life, she said.
Speaking in the Dáil, she said that Gridziuska was a recidivist, and there are credible allegations that he operated as a garda informant.
"Why was he at liberty that night?" she asked.
The family has faced indignity upon indignity and been told to shut up and go away.
However, "they fought and fought and fought", she added and praised their "undying love" for Shane.
Sinn Féin TD for Cavan-Monaghan Matt Carthy told the Dáil he believes Gridziuska was a "garda informant" and was "permitted to wreak havoc" while gardaí protected their source above all else.
Watch: Sinn Féin TD says Zigimantas Gridziuska was 'permitted to wreak havoc' by gardaí
"Many people, myself included, believe that Zigimantas Gridziuska was an informer, that he was permitted to wreak havoc because gardaí prioritised the protection of their source above all else," Mr Carthy said.
He called on the Minister for Justice to publish all relevant documentation including a garda file which he said is known to exist.
He said Lucia O'Farrell is a force of nature who has inspired many, and who made developments happen.
"You've done Shane proud," he said, visibly emotional.
Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik paid tribute to the O'Farrell's "unwavering" fight for justice.
Their loss was compounded by the State's failings, she said.
Ms Bacik said the apology is "welcome and overdue".
"It is an important day," she added.
Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan said Shane "never turned people away" and "was hugely respected and loved".
"The trauma, heartache and grief of losing Shane have been compounded by the response of the State", he said.
He noted that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, now called Fiosrú, had the case for seven years, and called for all reports into Shane's death to be published.
'What occurred should not have occurred' - Taoiseach
Speaking ahead of the apology, the Taoiseach also noted failings in the justice system.
He said: "I think it is incumbent on me on behalf of the entire Government to recognise the deep pain, the deep trauma and the deep sense of loss that has been suffered by Shane's mother Lucia, dad Jim and the entire O’Farrell family since that most awful of days when Shane O’Farrell was killed on 2 August 2011.
"A young life so clearly full of energy, potential and promise cruelly taken. A loving family devastated by senseless loss.
"What occurred should not have occurred. One of the most fundamental duties of the State is to seek to keep our people safe.
"Tragically, due to failings within our justice system, which Minister O’Callaghan will address in detail, Shane O’Farrell was exposed to danger to which he should not have been exposed.
"Those failures allowed the driver of the car that knocked down Shane O’Farrell to be at liberty, when in all reasonable circumstances he should have been in custody.
"The O’Farrell family deserved better, Shane O’Farrell deserved better."
'Failures' on part of State - Tánaiste
The Tánaiste said there were "failures" on the part of the State in relation to the death of Shane O'Farrell.
The Tánaiste said: "We acknowledge failures in the Courts Service and the Criminal Justice System that exposed Shane to danger on the fateful day of his tragic death.
"My colleague, the Minister for Justice, will formally deliver a public apology to the O’Farrell family very shortly on behalf of the Government.
"The Government made a number of decisions on the recommendation of the Minister and arising from the campaign of the O’Farrell family that we hope will bring about meaningful change."
Mr Harris began his speech by paying tribute to Shane and the O’Farrell family’s campaign for justice.
He said: "I know the agonising pain of Shane’s tragic death near Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, on August 2 2011, has since been borne alongside your long campaign against the injustice of his killing.
"It is beyond regrettable that it is so often the case that the interactions of victims and their families with the State are so prolonged as to feel adversarial and I know that this has exacerbated your already unimaginable pain.
"I know Shane’s death plunged your tight-knit community in County Monaghan into the depths of grief and numbness.
"A community that lost one of their own; a 23-year-old young law graduate with his entire life, a bright future, all ahead of him.
"The harrowing events of that day in August 2011 were just the beginning of a living nightmare for the O’Farrell family.
"Nothing we can do or say will take away the pain of his loss, but I hope the steps we are taking today will help to bring some sense of closure and comfort."
