Bríd Smith demands public inquiry into Shane O'Farrell case

Goe'r maagod, Laas Cian Coorle, and to you Minister and to the family in the gallery, I want to say there is very little left to be said, and as eloquently as the other deputies have said it, I feel there is not an awful lot for me to add, because I couldn't agree with them more than 100%, absolutely everything that has been said and that has been covered here has been covered time again in this House in relation to Shane O'Farrell. I do want to thank Deputy McCarthy and Sinn Fein for bringing this forward, particularly as we are coming to the end of this government, definitely the end of this term, but also ultimately the end of this government in a very short period of time. It is interesting, isn't it, when you are coming to the end of something, that a controversy like this will open up deep divisions within your coalition, which is why I think you had three Fianna Fáil deputies sitting there earlier on, all there to show their passionate support, that the former Taoiseach, now Taoiseach to Michal Martin, has been quoted time and time again in relation to the passion and the determination with which he pushed a resolution, well she had pushed a revolution, when in opposition on this case, and all of the contradictions that go on in the body politic are revealed here tonight, over the corpse, if you like, of Shane O'Farrell, and over the hard, hard work on love that his mother has put into this, she is incredible, and if ever I am in trouble with the law, I want her on my side. She is forensic, and nothing goes by her, absolutely nothing, if she was my mother I would be scared of her, because she will miss out absolutely nothing, she is an amazing woman, but I know that is driven by both love of her son and love of justice itself. A couple of things I want to say, it is very obvious, and it cannot be more obvious since the Stardust case, the Birmingham Six, the Bloody Sunday cases, and now what we are facing with the Dublin Monaghan bombings cases, that when issues of state injustice are ignored, and are not dealt with, they only serve to cement doubt and mistrust, and a lack of confidence that the public have in the overall justice system, and in the Gardaí themselves. And that leaves you with a huge responsibility, as a Minister for Justice, do you want to go with a legacy that says, I served to cement mistrust of Joe Public in my role, in my office, and in the Gardaí whom I am supposed to lead and protect and represent? Because our past is littered with cases of injustice, someone that I have mentioned, like the Stardust tragedy, we also have Terence Wheelock's case outstanding, George and Kencho case outstanding, cases that have been dragged and dragged and dragged for years on end, through elements of the justice system, through the political system, which is where this has ended up, and are still being told, no, here comes more pain and more torture, because what you just announced tonight, is like sticking needles into their eyes to say to that family, I am bringing this to the Justice Committee. The Judge Houghton report was rejected by the family, you know this, and they rejected it, not because they wanted to throw their toys out of the pram, but because, again, forensically, Lucia O'Farrell went through it in word and detail, and was able to show quite clearly that it was extremely flawed. From its inception, from the time when the terms of reference were printed and published and changed again, up to the time that the report was concluded, she showed that it was not worth the paper it was written on. But here is the thing for us here in the House, because we always talk, as others have said, about the separation of powers between the judiciary and the Parliament. At this stage now, the Parliament has voted, not once but twice, here in the Dáil and in the Shannad, to call for a public inquiry into the events leading up to the death of Shane O'Farrell and the issues of injustice around it. That hasn't happened. But yet, a judge who issues a report that is rejected by the family and hasn't been accepted by this House either, his report is allowed to go to the Justice Committee for more scrutiny. Who has the ultimate say when it comes to democratic rights? Is it the people who are democratically elected, i.e. the people that sit in this chamber, or is it the judges that they appoint? And I think that's a serious question that we have to ask ourselves, because the democratically elected people in this chamber will vote again to demand a public inquiry. And we've done it already, so have the Shannad, and it's been thrown back in the faces of the O'Farrell family. But it's been dragged out and dragged out, and I really do plead with you, Minister, don't do a stardust on the O'Farrell family. Don't drag it out for decades and decades and decades. Give them the justice they deserve and open up a public inquiry. Because if you don't, I think, and I want to use the words of somebody very, very famous, historically, and you as somebody involved in justice would know it, the failure to establish that public inquiry will lead us to conclude that for this state, the truth and nothing but the truth, in the words of the deceased Lord Denny, who presided over the trials around the Birmingham Six, who said it would open up an appalling vista for this state. And that's the only conclusion one can come to. That we're hiding something, that the deep state in particular, not necessarily the Minister for Justice and the other elected people in the House, but the deep state, those who really make the decisions, hidden behind the curtains of the civil service and in the departments, deep down, who make the decisions, who give the advice, it's the deep state that are holding back on justice being served and democracy being served in this House. So I want to finish by just saying to you that it's quite clear there's a row going on in the Government between the three parties on this issue, that you guys don't want to push it to a vote, to avoid embarrassment, even at this late stage in your existence. But I'm asking you now, when you come back to speak to us in your conclusions, will you commit to enacting the terms of this motion or the sentiments of this motion, which is to call for a public inquiry, that you will bring to the House before the closure of this Government, terms of reference for a public inquiry. If you don't announce that before the end of this debate, I am going to push this to a vote, and I'm going to insist that all of those within your Government, within your coalition, show exactly where they stand on the issue, one by one, show exactly where they stand on the issue of a public inquiry into the death and the injustices surrounding the O'Farrell case. Thank you very much.