The mother of Shane O’Farrell believes her family has been failed by Heather Humphreys over the years while she was elected to the Dail.
Shane was killed while cycling on the N2 near Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan, and his family was given a State apology earlier this year over the authorities’ handling of the case.
Zigimantas Gridziuska, a Lithuanian man who was out on bail when he ran into Shane’s bicycle and left him on the side of the road, had been stopped by the Garda drugs squad an hour before the fatal collision.
He had 42 previous convictions for crimes including road-traffic offences, theft and heroin possession. Lucia O’Farrell has been reacting to the debate on RTE's Week in politics with Aine Lawlor that took place yesterday.
During that debate, a question was posed to Heather Humphreys about the disappointment from the O'Farrell family over her handling of their case in seeking justice.
Lucia says she feels that Ms Humphreys never supported her throughout the years while she was a TD for the region.
"All I saying is that we had all these votes over the years for a public inquiry, we were an ordinary family that would have appreciated the support from her as a local TD but we never got it and I look now at the posters up for this election and it says she wants to be a President for all but that's very disingenuous when she couldn't even support het own constituents. We never got the support we needed."
Lucia O'Farrell says she would not want to meet Heather Humphreys now even if she is elected the next President of Ireland, "That ship has absolutely sailed, it's way too late for that, I would have thought she would have reached out in the wake of the public apology but she didn't."
Heather Humphreys issued Northern Sound with the following statement:
“As a mother I am heartbroken at the death of Shane O’Farrell and I have nothing but admiration for Lucia and her family for the manner in which they have fought for justice. I spoke to Lucia during that journey, I made representations, I did my best and I am sorry if Lucia feels I didn’t do enough. As the minister for justice for a period in which an independent review was ongoing I could not interfer. Like everyone in Monaghan I was extremely relieved to see the family receive their state apology and that was the sentiment I was expressing on Sunday when asked on RTE.”
