Local TD commends O'Farrell family as government apologises for failures. Cavan Monaghan TD, Matt Carthy, has welcomed the formal apology received by the family of Shane O'Farrell in the Dáil yesterday afternoon. Indeed, saying it was a vindication of their campaign over the 14 years since Shane's death.
Deputy Carthy commended Shane's family for their 'tenacity, determination and intelligence'. Moreover, he described Shane's mother, Lucia, as a 'force of nature'.
Furthermore, he said that government should publish documents that have been refused to the family. To send a signal that a similar situation can never happen again.
He described yesterday as a day of vindication for the O'Farrell family and an acknowledgement by the government that this family was right in their campaign.
No longer can their assertions of state failures be described or dismissed as allegations.
According to Deputy Carthy, it is an indisputable fact that Shane O’Farrell was failed by this state. This failure resulted in his death. And his family have been failed by the state every day since."
I spoke with Deputy Carthy earlier today on Northern Sound in relation to yesterday's watershed moment: