The Sinn Féin manifesto published on Tuesday includes a commitment that, if elected to government, the party will establish a full independent public inquiry into the death of Shane O'Farrell.
Shane, a 23 year old Carrickmacross man, was killed in a hit and run on 2nd August 2011 by Zigimantas Gridziuska, a known criminal who had breached several bail conditions at the time and had 42 previous convictions in three different jurisdictions.
Serious questions have been raised regarding Garda interactions with Gridziuska and various decisions of several state bodies, including the courts and the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Dáil has twice supported Dáil motions calling for the establishment of a public inquiry. However, successive governments have refused to act on this.
In fact, when the second motion was moved this year TDs from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, including their representatives from Cavan Monaghan, abstained in a clear indication that neither party has any intention acting on it. This week local Sinn Féin TD, Matt Carthy, said that he was proud that his party has committed to establishing what is required to get to the truth in the case.
Deputy Carthy said the crucial question that has not been answered is why the person who was solely responsible for Shane's death was in a position to crash into this young man, kill him and leave the scene when he clearly should have been in prison. He said Shane O'Farrell was failed by the state.
