Family of hit-and-run victim Shane O'Farrell 'happy' with new report on bail laws

From left: Hannah , Jim, Lucia, Gemma , Aimee and Pia O’Farrell arriving at Leinster House to hear an apology in the Dáil in May. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins

The mother of hit-and-run victim Shane O’Farrell says her son would still be alive if existing bail legislation had been implemented.

Lucia O’Farrell has welcomed a new raft of recommendations made in a report on the efficacy of Irish bail laws, which was published by the Department of Justice.

The review, carried out by senior counsel Lorcan Staines and published on Thursday, recommended a garda who suspected a person had breached their bail should be able to arrest them without a warrant.

Lucia’s 23-year-old son Shane was cycling home in August 2011 when he was struck by a car driven by Zigimantas Gridziuska near Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan in a hit-and-run.

The following day, the Lithuanian surrendered himself to gardaí. 

However, the O’Farrell family feel he should never have been at liberty to kill Shane as he had been granted conditional bail on a number of occasions in the two years before the incident and it had not been revoked despite broken conditions.

At the time of Mr O'Farrell’s death, Gridziuska was on bail in connection with a number of separate incidents.

In May, a State apology was given to the family in the Dáil, during which minister for justice Jim O’Callaghan also announced both the bail law review and a scholarship to be set up in Mr O'Farrell's name.

The report published on Thursday also recommended the responsibility for the prosecution of offences be removed from gardaí and that all future court proceedings be conducted by legal professionals; the immediate investment in information-sharing systems for the Courts Service, gardaí and other police forces.

Ms O’Farrell said: “We are happy with the report, its further vindication of what we have been saying.

If the existing law was implemented, when Shane was alive, this criminal would have been in jail at the time he killed. 

“If they are serious about fixing the very broken system, these recommendations should be implemented, asap. Our beautiful beloved Shane would want nothing less. He would not want another precious life to be lost, needlessly, and he would not want a family to suffer their loss,” she said.

The O’Farrell family had campaigned since his death for a public inquiry into the issue.

In 2018, when a backbench TD, Jim O’Callaghan tabled a motion calling for a public inquiry into the death. 

In March, he told the Dáil he did so because there were issues of concern including “that the driver was on bail at the time, gardaí stopped his car one hour before the collision, and he had previous convictions that should have triggered his reappearance before the courts”.

In issuing the State apology in May, Mr O’Callaghan said he did not need a public inquiry to face up to the State's responsibility for failings in the justice system.

Mr O’Callaghan has now asked that officials in his department examine how the recommendations made by Lorcan Staines can be implemented.

In a statement on Thursday night, Shane’s family said: “We urge the Government to act swiftly on these recommendations to ensure bail laws are enforced and public safety is protected. 

"Failure to do so would expose citizens to life threatening risks, resulting in tragic outcomes, as was the case for Shane.”