The Minister for Justice is to meet the family of a Monaghan cyclist who was killed by a hit-and-run-driver who should have been in jail at the time, amid political pressure for a public inquiry into the death.
Shane O'Farrell, a 23-year-old law graduate, was killed while cycling near his home in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, on 2 August 2011.
The driver of the car, Zigimantas Gridziuska, had previous convictions, including for theft, drugs and road traffic offences.
Gridziuska left the scene but later handed himself into gardaí.
A ruling from Monaghan Circuit Court in January 2011 meant the Lithuanian national should have been in jail at the time of Mr O'Farrell's death.
Instead, he remained on bail despite being arrested on both sides of the border for various crimes.
The O'Farrell family have long campaigned for a public inquiry into the circumstances leading to Mr O'Farrell's death, arguing reviews by GSOC, the Independent Review Mechanism, the Courts Service and a Government-commissioned scoping review failed to uncover the truth of what happened.
The Dáil has twice passed a motion calling on the Government to establish a public inquiry into the death of Mr O'Farrell, including in 2018 after a proposal brought forward by Fianna Fáil's now Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, then Opposition leader, told the Dáil how the case revealed "shocking malpractice and dysfunction within our criminal justice system at all levels. An inquiry should be established".
The Dáil again voted for public inquiry into Mr O'Farrell's death on 10 July 2024 and politicians from Fine Gael and Sinn Féin are joining the O'Farrell family in calling on the new Minister for Justice to honour the vote.
"There's been a grave injustice and it would be a betrayal of Shane not to address this," his mother Lucia O'Farrell said.
"He has no voice now and there is grave failure that has caused this man to be at liberty and it needs to be addressed"
"Our biggest supporter when he was in opposition was Deputy Jim O'Callaghan.
"We're approaching the 14th year of Shane's horrific death by a man who should have been in custody at the time. Shane deserves justice and we deserve peace. We haven't been given that yet but we hope that Jim O'Callaghan will be the man to do that.
"I've met him a few times and he knows the scale of failure. There's a lot he knows too of the reason Shane's case merits investigation is that there were significant failings by the State of which we do not yet know the full details," Ms O'Farrell told RTÉ's Drivetime.
"It's a great opportunity for the State to fix the very broken criminal justice system by having a public inquiry. So, I would hope Minister O'Callaghan would do the right thing and give peace and dignity to Shane and peace to our family...and put in the public inquiry that's long overdue," she added.
A scoping inquiry by retired Judge Justice Gerard Haughton in 2023 recommended against holding a public inquiry.
In July, then minister for justice Helen McEntee told the Dáil she would refer Judge Haughton's findings to the Oireachtas Justice Committee for further consideration.
However, it emerged in January - in response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy - how Ms McEntee never contacted the committee as promised, citing the General Election.
"I am taken aback," said Mr Carthy, "for the Minister not to write to the committee and cite the General Election which was in November. Remember, this was in July, I don't buy it and it's incredibly disappointing."
The Cavan-Monaghan TD was recently appointed his party's justice spokesperson and insists he will raise the need for a public inquiry into Shane O'Farrell's killing with Mr O'Callaghan at the earliest opportunity.
"I do hope to have a private conversation with the minister over the coming weeks where this will be the first thing that I will discuss with him.
"And at the first opportunity to put oral questions to the Minister in the Dáil, this will be the first question I'll have.
"I think we will learn very quickly whether the Minister is up for doing what he knows is the correct course of action. And the reason we know is that he is on the record as having said it on several occasions previously," Mr Carthy said.
Fine Gael MEP for Dublin Regina Doherty recently wrote to Mr O'Callaghan to 'respectfully urge to do what is right for Shane... to really determine the full facts of what led to Shane's death' and establish a public inquiry.
Speaking to RTÉ, Ms Doherty added: "He brought the opposition proposal a number of years ago and now that he is the person responsible for either giving or not giving the public inquiry, I really hope that everything that he said in the past number of years will culminate in actually giving the public inquiry to the family"
Ms Doherty also admitted her own party's treatment of the case when in charge of the Justice portfolio had been "inexplicable".
A spokesperson for Mr O'Callaghan said he "intends to write to the Justice Committee shortly to ask it to look at the recommendations and conclusions of the report of the scoping exercise"
"He will also be meeting again Shane's mother, Lucia O’Farrell, in the near future, to talk about the role of the Justice Committee and to listen carefully to what she has to say in respect of this matter".
Ms O'Farrell told RTÉ she looks forward to meeting Mr O'Callaghan but added "he knows we'll accept nothing less than a public inquiry".
A Department of Justice spokesperson added: "Judge Haughton's scoping inquiry makes a number of important recommendations on suspended sentences legislation, certain aspects in relation to dangerous driving, specific aspects of the law relating to inquests and the role of the Gardaí, and an audit of relevant Courts Service accounts by the Courts Service Audit and Risk Committee".
