Shane O'Farrell's parents address Oireachtas Committee on bail laws

AS the 15th anniversary of their son's death in a hit-and-run approaches, Lucia and Jim O'Farrell addressed a joint committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration about bail reform today.

Their son, 23-year-old Shane O'Farrell, was knocked off his bike and killed near Carrickmacross on August 2, 2011.

The man who struck Shane with his car from behind, Zigimantas Gridziuska, was on bail for multiple offences at the time of the fatal incident.

In November, a report commissioned by the Minister for Justice and compiled by Lorcan Staines SC following an apology from the Irish State for Shane's death, found the current bail system is "cumbersome, inefficient, inconsistent and haphazard" with poor information sharing between the Courts Service, An Garda Síochána, and other State agencies, resulting in weak oversight of bail compliance.

Today, Lucia and Jim spent over three hours in Committee Meeting Room 1 of Leinster House addressing representatives from The Bar of Ireland, the Law Society of Ireland and the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).

Shane O'Farrell was a law graduate who had a promising career in the legal profession ahead of him before his life was cruelly and needlessly cut short because of loopholes in Irish bail laws.

Lucia O'Farrell told those assembled: "In the case of our son, this man had been on bail for two full years and in that two full years he continued to commit crime and nobody said 'Your Honour, he got bail last week and he's now committed five days' of theft' or 'Your Honour, you imposed bail conditions that he does not leave the jurisdiction' and he pulls up at 12:30 when the curfew was 11 o'clock. He crosses the border and the PSNI inform gardaí and the gardaí do nothing and he was to sign on daily.

"So, he doesn't sign on, there are gaps in signing on; there's no signature for four months before Shane was killed.

"A judge can only go on the information he was given and I don't think it is acceptable."

The meeting was chaired by Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice and Cavan-Monaghan TD, Matt Carthy, who has been working with the O'Farrell's for many years since Shane's death.

"Public confidence in the criminal justice system depends on having a bail system that both protects the constitutional rights of accused persons and one that protects communities," Deputy Carthy said.

Speaking to the Anglo-Celt following today's lengthy meeting, Lucia O'Farrell said: "Hopefully now things will change."