One of the key questions put to Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys throughout her campaign has been about the level of support she offered to the family of hit-and-run victim Shane O'Farrell in their years-long bid for justice.
In 2011, 23-year-old Shane was killed while cycling near his home in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. The driver who struck him, Zigimantas Gridziuska, had multiple prior convictions and was on bail at the time.
For over a decade, Shane’s parents, Lucia and Jim O’Farrell, and his four sisters – Hannah, Pia, Gemma, and Aimee — campaigned for accountability, a campaign that ultimately resulted in the State issuing an official apology in May of this year.
The case returned to public attention in the early weeks of the presidential race, when Shane’s mother Lucia criticised Ms Humphreys for what she saw as a lack of help from her local TD.
Speaking to The Irish Times on 26 September, Ms O’Farrell questioned Ms Humphreys’ suitability to run for the presidency, saying that as their local TD for Cavan Monaghan — and later Justice Minister — she failed to support the family’s campaign for a public inquiry into failings around Shane’s death.
During multiple media appearances in the lead up to polling day, Ms Humphreys has defended her record, including telling local radio station LMFM on 7 October that "I can honestly say I did my best."
So, what did Ms Humphreys do — and not do — in support of the O’Farrell family during her time as TD and Justice Minister?
Representations
Oireachtas records show that Ms Humphreys did not raise Shane O’Farrell’s case in the Dáil or submit parliamentary questions about it in the 13 years after his death, while she was a TD.
But, as she told The Katie Hannon Interview on RTÉ Television on Monday 13 October, ministers are not permitted to table questions to fellow ministers under Dáil rules.
Since first entering Cabinet in July 2014, Ms Humphreys has held a series of portfolios — including Arts, Heritage, Rural Affairs, Enterprise, and, twice, the Justice brief while Helen McEntee was on maternity leave.
Ms Humphreys also stated in that interview that she had spoken to Ms O’Farrell "at length" about Shane’s death and that she had made representations on the families’ behalf in the past.
Ms O’Farrell said she has never met Ms Humphreys in person, although she has received some email correspondence from her and has spoken to her on the phone on several occasions.
The O'Farrell family maintains that those exchanges amounted to little more than polite correspondence. They say that while Ms Humphreys expressed sympathy, there was no follow-up and "no public support" for the family’s push for an inquiry.
On what representations Ms Humphreys made on their families’ behalf, Ms O’Farrell told RTÉ that in April 2018, the then minister passed on correspondence she had received from then Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan after raising the case with him.
Ms Humphreys has also said she made representations on their behalf to another former Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, but the O’Farrell family has said they "have no evidence of representations made to Mr Shatter" on their behalf.
Ms Humphreys also told RTÉ television on Monday that as Justice Minister, she chose not to intervene in the O’Farrell case while a scoping inquiry led by retired judge Gerard Haughton was under way, saying she "didn’t want to derail that process."
Dáil voting record
While Ms Humphreys says she was unable to table parliamentary questions as a minister, she was in government during several Dáil votes related to the O’Farrell case.
In June 2018, Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan tabled a motion calling for a Commission of Investigation into Shane O’Farrell’s death.
A Government amendment proposed by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan was defeated 35 to 76, and the original motion carried.
Ms Humphreys’ name does not appear on the voting list, nor in a subsequent 2019 motion on a related amendment.
Seanad Éireann subsequently passed a similar motion without opposition, but by 12 July 2024, when no inquiry had been launched, another motion calling for a public inquiry was brought to the Dáil.
This time, no TDs voted against it. The motion ended with 63 votes in favour, 75 abstentions and none opposed — meaning the motion was carried, though without the Government’s explicit support.
Because no votes were cast against it, individual votes were not formally recorded.
While Ms Humphreys hasn’t said why her votes weren’t recorded, she told Morning Ireland on RTÉ radio on 17 October that she believed she had voted with the Government but could not recall the specific Dáil votes.
Under the principle of Cabinet collective responsibility, government ministers are typically whipped to support official Government positions during Dáil votes.
Breaking from that position would amount to a breach of Cabinet discipline and, in practice, would usually result in the loss of a ministerial portfolio.
While the Government stopped short of endorsing a public inquiry, the O'Farrell campaign continually attracted support from TDs and Senators across party lines.
Among those in Government who expressed public support were former Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick, who stood with the family outside Leinster House in May 2018, and Senator Regina Doherty, who spoke in support of the O’Farrells in the Seanad in October 2023.
Ms Doherty also wrote in support of the family again in February of this year while serving as a Fine Gael MEP.
While others in her party had publicly voiced sympathy for the family, on RTÉ radio on Friday, Ms Humphreys was asked why she didn’t vote in favour of the public inquiry.
"I’m sorry if it wasn’t enough," Ms Humphreys said.
"Anybody that came through my constituency office, I did my best for them," she added.
As a minister bound by party discipline, Ms Humphreys’ view is she was constrained in how far she could go publicly in support of the O’Farrell family.
For the O’Farrell family, those explanations ring hollow — they argue that Ms Humphreys could have shown public solidarity even within those constraints.
As a presidential candidate now asking voters to judge her independence, Ms Humphreys’ record has come under renewed scrutiny.
