Latest news with #ShaneO'Farrell
Irish Times
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
How Shane O'Farrell's family spent 14 years searching for the truth after fatal hit-and-run
Shane O'Farrell was 23 when he was the victim of a hit-and-run near his home in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan . A law graduate, he had just submitted his master's thesis and was enjoying a carefree cycle on that August evening in 2011. Questions around how the crash happened soon turned to who was behind the wheel. It was Lithuanian Zigimantas Gridziuska, a man known to the Garda and the courts. During his time in Ireland he had been before the courts many times and accumulated many convictions. On the day he killed Shane and drove off, he had more than 40 convictions, including some in Northern Ireland. READ MORE So how was he free to go out and kill? He had breached his bail conditions many times so why was he not in prison? And where was the justice for Shane when Gridziuska was before the court for the fatal hit-and-run but walked free, allowed return to his family in Lithuania? Since 2011, the O'Farrell family has been seeking answers and has worked tirelessly to understand how the justice system failed their son and brother. His parents Lucia and Jim, and his sisters, Hannah, Pia, Gemma and Aimee were in Leinster House last Tuesday to hear Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan give a State apology to the family 'for the fact that the criminal justice system did not protect him [Shane] as it should have'. Gemma O'Farrell tells In the News about the family's long campaign, how they were stonewalled and disrespected by branches and agencies of the State that should have helped them and how they persisted despite all that. There are, however, still questions to be answered around the institutional failures in the justice system – not only how they relate to their brother's case, but to others. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and John Casey.
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Irish Independent
‘It was very important to our family' – mother of Shane O'Farrell reacts to Justice Minister's apology
Shane O'Farrell (23) was knocked off his bicycle and killed in a hit-and-run incident near his home in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, in August 2011. "He was just finished college in Trinity. He was training all year. He was a very good swimmer and good athlete,' his mother Lucia O'Farrell told Oliver Callan. She told of how her son loved rugby and was also training for an upcoming triathlon, and had headed off on his final cycle before the event. "He went out and his sister said 'will you have a cup of tea?' and he said 'I will when I come back.' And he never came home,' Ms O'Farrell said. She said he lost out on his whole life ahead and 'what should have been', including the study that he had done, his law degree and a masters degree. "He loved the piano and guitar. He loved people, he loved life, he loved making tea and toast. He loved the chats with people. "When he was over in London visiting his girlfriend, he would go down to the markets in Camden and get ostrich or whatever was being sold. "He would have a chat with the people running the market, maybe the African man or the children. He was very good with people,' she said. "He drew people to him. He was fascinated with language and English and life. He loved life. He was beaming with life.' Ms O'Farrell also told of how proud her son was of Carrickmacross and his native Monaghan, where he loved being around nature, be it birds or flowers. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more She told how she 'hasn't missed a single day' in visiting her son's grave since his death, and often spends the nigh awake or being restless. "Because that is where they failed him. That is where he is. He should be here, living his life,' she said. "Our daughters have got married since, and you look on at the dancefloor thinking, he should be out there dancing or at the bar having a pint,' Ms O'Farrell added. She said there are chapters of her son's life 'unwritten now forever, and that's not fair'. Ms O'Farrell added that she has chanelled her grief into the anger that she keeps over her son's death, as he 'has no voice'. Shane O'Farrell was killed in the hit-and-run by Zigimantas Gridziuska, who was out on bail at the time, including for driving offences. Gridziuska was a repeat criminal who had committed a series of offences while on bail and, a year before the hit-and-run, was given a prison sentence which he did not serve. Ms O'Farrell and her family had for years campaigned for a full public inquiry, saying they don't know why the driver who killed her son was at liberty at the time of the killing. Ms O'Farrell described Minister O'Callaghan's public apology to the O'Farrell family in the Dáil on Tuesday, as a 'significant step'. She said it was an official acknowledgement of the institutional failures which exposed her son to danger. 'He apologised to Shane and I think that was very important to our family,' she said. "That it wasn't just an apology to us, it was an apology to Shane and the O'Farrell family, as the criminal justice system did not protect Shane as it should have.' She said the family have been 'stonewalled by various State agencies throughout this process', receiving letters back saying they acknowledged receipt of their letters. "But your question isn't answered. We would hope with our campaign and what we have achieved now, it hasn't brought Shane back, it will never bring Shane back. "But it is a recognition by the State that Shane was failed. But we would hope that other families wouldn't be treated like we have been treated,' she said. Ms O'Farrell added that she hopes there will be a 'sea change' in the Department of Justice to listen to victims and to have them at the centre of everything. "When you lose a child, you lose everything. Time is over. Time left over is unwanted. It shouldn't be a huge hurdle for families to get answers,' she said. In addition to apologising, Mr O'Callaghan announced a review of bail laws, an upcoming change to road traffic law and a new scholarship in Shane O'Farrell's name. Ms O'Farrell said that her son's legacy 'will live on now' through the memorial scholarship in University College Dublin, where he studied law.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on bail reform: a careful balance required
Almost 14 years after Shane O'Farrell died on a Co Monaghan road, his family have received an official apology from Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan for the State's role in the events that led to the 23-year-old death. The statement in the Dáil chamber on Tuesday was a vindication of the O'Farrells' long campaign in the face of official deflection and obfuscation. They have expressed the hope that it will come to be seen as a 'watershed moment' for the administration of justice. But they continue to press for more transparency on why the hit-and-run driver who struck Shane was not in prison at the time, as a court had ordered. The Minister has appointed a senior counsel to review the bail laws The question of whether these laws are too lax has been a subject of debate, particularly in the context of high-profile crimes committed by individuals released on bail. Critics argue the system sometimes prioritises the presumption of innocence over public safety, allowing repeat offenders or those accused of serious crimes to remain free while awaiting trial. Under Irish law, bail is generally granted unless the court has a substantial reason to believe the accused will flee, interfere with witnesses,or commit further offences. The Bail Act 1997 allows for bail to be refused in cases where the accused is likely to commit a serious offence if released. However, some legal experts believe this standard is too difficult to meet. READ MORE Data from the Garda and the Courts Service occasionally highlights cases where individuals released on bail are later re-arrested for similar or more serious crimes. This has led to calls for stricter bail conditions, particularly for repeat offenders or those charged with violent crimes. But others argue that tightening bail laws would undermine fundamental rights. And increasing the number of people held in pre-trial detention would place further strain on an already overcrowded prison system. Any reform must therefore strike a careful balance between protecting the public and upholding civil liberties.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Miriam Lord: Lucia O'Farrell shows Dáil the formidable power of a mother's love for her son
Every day, without fail, Lucia O'Farrell goes to a cemetery outside Carrickmacross to visit her beloved son, Shane. He shouldn't be dead. The 23-year-old law student was killed by a hit-and-run driver when out training for a triathlon in August 2011. The driver, a man with a string of criminal convictions, was out on bail when he should have been in jail. Since then, his mother has tirelessly campaigned to find the truth behind his needless death. And as the years passed without any answers, she persevered, despite being stonewalled by evasive government departments and State agencies and fobbed off with sympathetic words and unfulfilled promises. READ MORE Others might have given up. But not the indomitable Lucia. Then, after the long days pursuing more leads and presenting her extensive evidence to the people in power; going to whoever it had to be wherever they happened to be to be to make her case and call for justice, she always returned home to Monaghan , to be with Shane. 'Thirteen years, nine months and 20 days – a long time campaigning,' she remarked outside the gates of Leinster House on Tuesday, her husband Jim and four daughters, Hannah, Gemma, Aimee and Pia, by her side. They were about to go into the Dáil chamber to hear the Minister for Justice issue a public apology on behalf of the Government for systemic failings in the criminal justice system that led to their Shane's death. Moreover, Jim O'Callaghan would announce a change in the law, a fast-track review of the bail system and a Department of Justice-funded UCD scholarship in law graduate Shane's name. Anyone involved in Irish politics at a national level over the last decade or so is familiar with the case. As was pointed in many of the Dáil statements following the public apology, Lucia O'Farrell was a very familiar person around Leinster House. 'In and out of TDs and Senators offices' as one speaker put it. Which is true. Not that it got Lucia and Jim very far, until now. How strange it must have felt for her and the family to now be seated, not in the public gallery, but in the chamber itself, in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery, which is reserved for VIP guests. On Tuesday evening, the TDs were calling up to the O'Farrells to shake their hands. Everyone knew the story. They also knew it wasn't their story to claim. The reason the Dáil was in session for a very rare public apology from the Government was not down to the power of politicians and their ability and will to get things done. It was down to the determination of one woman who simply refused to take no for an answer. In a very moving couple of hours in a hushed chamber, the Dáil gave way to the formidable power of a mother's love for her son. A fact repeated time and again as TDs wiped tears from their eyes and accomplished speakers struggled to control their emotions. Again, after the years of stonewalling and sidestepping, how must it have felt to have the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste sitting side by side, acknowledging how the system failed Shane and how the State would honour his memory by doing better by others? The Dáil was united in support, empathy and compassion for the family, said Taoiseach Micheál Martin , telling Lucia O'Farrell that her battle 'has been long, but not in vain'. 'One of the most fundamental duties of the State is to keep people safe' he said. 'The O'Farrell family deserve better. Shane deserved better.' Tánaiste Simon Harris , echoing the overriding sentiment of the day, stood in awe 'of the might of a mother fighting for justice'. He said the harrowing events of August 2011 became 'a living nightmare for the O'Farrell family' but 'her son's memory lives on thanks to her enduring love.'. At one point, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy came into the chamber. She wasn't wearing her robes of office, but there as a mere TD who had also met the family many times. She sat outside the rail listening to the statements for a while before quietly going over to the family to welcome them to the Dáil. Jim O'Callaghan, as minister, made a businesslike speech – and it was all the better for that. He had spoken many times in support of the family and their call for a public inquiry. Now, less than six months in office, he was doing something concrete to follow up on his words. He would not be ordering an inquiry. Instead, there would be a review carried out by a senior counsel with a four-month delivery deadline attached. Why spend years on an inquiry when the facts are already known? He read them in detail into the record. 'I need neither more, nor further entrenchment, of those facts in order to face up to my responsibility as Minister for Justice,' he said. Nor did he need any more information to acknowledge the State's responsibility 'for failings in our system that exposed Shane to danger on that fateful day'. What was the point in a report that would have people 'lawyering up', ending in a process that would go on for years? When he mentioned the scholarship in Shane's name, his sisters smiled a little and wept quiet tears. He was a graduate of both UCD and TCD, was doing his master's and had a big career in law in advance of him when he was struck down. Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald described meeting Lucia and Jim down through the years: 'A formidable Irish mammy and daddy who took on the powers of the State and never flinched. Not once.' It was an emotional, highly charged session. Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy, who is from Carrickmacross, filled up as he finished a powerful address on the Government's 'final acknowledgment that the family was right in its campaign'. He called for further information held by the Garda to be published. 'I hope you know that today would not have happened without your efforts,' he told Lucia, voice cracking as colleagues welled up around him. The passionate contribution from Fianna Fáil's John McGuinness stopped people in their tracks. The Kilkenny TD has long been a supporter of Lucia O'Farrell, speaking publicly about her fight justice over many years. At times, he was something of a lone voice as the rest of the establishment seemed to move on from this particular cause. He was 'thrilled' to witness this State apology, but wasn't about to give the political world a clap on the back for its part in bringing it about. Lucia 'painted a picture of a State and a system that was rotten. It wasn't the Government and system who uncovered all the wrongdoings. It was Lucia O'Farrell'. This should have been their work but 'she told us to do the job'. In what some will see as a swipe at his party leader, McGuinness praised Jim O'Callaghan for taking action in 'a piece of leadership action others should take note of'. Politicians are not in the Dáil 'to be blindly led by party whips'. Lucia used to ask him how she could face Shane eventually if she didn't get justice. 'Well, Lucia O'Farrell, you can face him whenever that day comes because you certainly have brought justice for Shane and certainly exposed the State for what it is.' Her fight, driven by 'a love from her son that was unmatched and drove her on, was nearing its end. 'I know that Shane would like you to live your life' John said, looking up to Lucia in the gallery. 'So when you go up to visit him this evening, you have something very substantial to report.' He would want to see her and Jim and the girls catch up on the lost years. 'Live out your life!' he cried. 'And live it out in memory of Shane.' On Tuesday night, after the excitement of Dáil Éireann, Lucia returned to Monaghan, the cemetery and Shane. They had a lot to talk about.
BreakingNews.ie
4 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Politics watch: Bill to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements
Here, we have a look at the issues likely to dominate political discourse in the weeks to come. Government to draft Bill to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements The Government is to draft legislation to ban the trade of goods with Palestinian lands illegally occupied by Israeli settlements. Advertisement Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris received Cabinet approval to draft the law on Tuesday. The Government has opted for fresh legislation instead of progressing the Occupied Territories Bill, first tabled in 2018. The Government has said there is 'a narrow pathway', based on an advisory opinion from the UN's top court, to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements. Bill aimed at banning fox hunting A bill that would ban 'cruel' fox hunting in Ireland has been introduced to the Dáil. Advertisement The bill was immediately opposed by two rural independent TDs, who said foxes pose concerns for farmers. Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger, who introduced the bill, said it was 'unprecedented' for a bill to be opposed at the first stage. Government apology over hit-and-run crash The Justice Minister has announced a review of bail laws after apologising to the family of a Monaghan cyclist who was killed in a hit-and-run crash almost 14 years ago. On August 2nd, 2011, 23-year-old law graduate Shane O'Farrell was cycling home when he was struck by a car in the Carrickmacross area of Co Monaghan. Advertisement The driver of the car, Zigimantas Gradzuiska, failed to remain at the scene. The Lithuanian national had a number of previous convictions including for theft and drugs offences. The Dáil heard that the day he struck Mr O'Farrell, Gradzuiska should have been in jail for breaches of bail conditions that were applied to him at the time. In one instance, the late Judge John O'Hagan had told him that he would be 'going to prison' if he got in trouble again after January 11th, 2011. Advertisement Public express outrage over McGregor/Trump meeting Members of the public expressed their anger at Conor McGregor's St Patrick's Day meeting with US president Donald Trump in messages to Taoiseach Micheál Martin. The vast majority of messages were critical of McGregor, with many accusing the UFC fighter of "hijacking our identity". Mr Martin met the US president on March 12th, and the Government was blindsided by McGregor's St Patrick's Day trip to the White House, in which he made a number of unfounded claims about immigration into Ireland. Claims McGregor made about crime levels in Dublin were also found to be from a discredited 'study' published by an online gambling company. Advertisement In messages to the Taoiseach, seen by after a Freedom of Information request, people expressed anger at McGregor's White House appearance. At 10.15pm on March 17th, one email to Mr Martin read: "You did a great job on your recent visit to the White House, congratulations on your diplomacy, but I'm furious with that clown (and I'm being generous) McGregor hijacking our identity." Abroad A 50 per cent tariff on EU imports to the US has been delayed from June 1st until July 9th following a call with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Donald Trump said. Speaking to reporters in New Jersey late on Sunday, the US president said the delay was to allow time for 'serious negotiations' with the bloc. In the UK, Nigel Farage's Reform UK continues to rise in opinion polls, with prime minister Keir Starmer and Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch struggling for a response.
