Miriam Lord: Lucia O'Farrell shows Dáil the formidable power of a mother's love for her son
Every day, without fail, Lucia O'Farrell goes to a cemetery outside Carrickmacross to visit her beloved son, Shane.
He shouldn't be dead.
The 23-year-old law student was killed by a hit-and-run driver when out training for a triathlon in August 2011. The driver, a man with a string of criminal convictions, was out on bail when he should have been in jail.
Since then, his mother has tirelessly campaigned to find the truth behind his needless death. And as the years passed without any answers, she persevered, despite being stonewalled by evasive government departments and State agencies and fobbed off with sympathetic words and unfulfilled promises.
READ MORE
Others might have given up. But not the indomitable Lucia.
Then, after the long days pursuing more leads and presenting her extensive evidence to the people in power; going to whoever it had to be wherever they happened to be to be to make her case and call for justice, she always returned home to
Monaghan
, to be with Shane.
'Thirteen years, nine months and 20 days – a long time campaigning,' she remarked outside the gates of Leinster House on Tuesday, her husband Jim and four daughters, Hannah, Gemma, Aimee and Pia, by her side.
They were about to go into the Dáil chamber to hear the Minister for Justice issue a public apology on behalf of the Government for systemic failings in the criminal justice system that led to their Shane's death. Moreover,
Jim O'Callaghan
would announce a change in the law, a fast-track review of the bail system and a Department of Justice-funded UCD scholarship in law graduate Shane's name.
Anyone involved in Irish politics at a national level over the last decade or so is familiar with the case. As was pointed in many of the Dáil statements following the public apology, Lucia O'Farrell was a very familiar person around Leinster House.
'In and out of TDs and Senators offices' as one speaker put it.
Which is true. Not that it got Lucia and Jim very far, until now.
How strange it must have felt for her and the family to now be seated, not in the public gallery, but in the chamber itself, in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery, which is reserved for VIP guests.
On Tuesday evening, the TDs were calling up to the O'Farrells to shake their hands.
Everyone knew the story. They also knew it wasn't their story to claim.
The reason the Dáil was in session for a very rare
public apology from the Government
was not down to the power of politicians and their ability and will to get things done. It was down to the determination of one woman who simply refused to take no for an answer.
In a very moving couple of hours in a hushed chamber, the Dáil gave way to the formidable power of a mother's love for her son.
A fact repeated time and again as TDs wiped tears from their eyes and accomplished speakers struggled to control their emotions.
Again, after the years of stonewalling and sidestepping, how must it have felt to have the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste sitting side by side, acknowledging how the system failed Shane and how the State would honour his memory by doing better by others?
The Dáil was united in support, empathy and compassion for the family, said Taoiseach
Micheál Martin
, telling Lucia O'Farrell that her battle 'has been long, but not in vain'.
'One of the most fundamental duties of the State is to keep people safe' he said. 'The O'Farrell family deserve better. Shane deserved better.'
Tánaiste
Simon Harris
, echoing the overriding sentiment of the day, stood in awe 'of the might of a mother fighting for justice'. He said the harrowing events of August 2011 became 'a living nightmare for the O'Farrell family' but 'her son's memory lives on thanks to her enduring love.'.
At one point, Ceann Comhairle
Verona Murphy
came into the chamber. She wasn't wearing her robes of office, but there as a mere TD who had also met the family many times. She sat outside the rail listening to the statements for a while before quietly going over to the family to welcome them to the Dáil.
Jim O'Callaghan, as minister, made a businesslike speech – and it was all the better for that. He had spoken many times in support of the family and their call for a public inquiry. Now, less than six months in office, he was doing something concrete to follow up on his words.
He would not be ordering an inquiry. Instead, there would be a review carried out by a senior counsel with a four-month delivery deadline attached.
Why spend years on an inquiry when the facts are already known? He read them in detail into the record.
'I need neither more, nor further entrenchment, of those facts in order to face up to my responsibility as Minister for Justice,' he said. Nor did he need any more information to acknowledge the State's responsibility 'for failings in our system that exposed Shane to danger on that fateful day'.
What was the point in a report that would have people 'lawyering up', ending in a process that would go on for years?
When he mentioned the scholarship in Shane's name, his sisters smiled a little and wept quiet tears. He was a graduate of both UCD and TCD, was doing his master's and had a big career in law in advance of him when he was struck down.
Sinn Féin's
Mary Lou McDonald
described meeting Lucia and Jim down through the years: 'A formidable Irish mammy and daddy who took on the powers of the State and never flinched. Not once.'
It was an emotional, highly charged session.
Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy, who is from Carrickmacross, filled up as he finished a powerful address on the Government's 'final acknowledgment that the family was right in its campaign'.
He called for further information held by the Garda to be published.
'I hope you know that today would not have happened without your efforts,' he told Lucia, voice cracking as colleagues welled up around him.
The passionate contribution from Fianna Fáil's John McGuinness stopped people in their tracks. The Kilkenny TD has long been a supporter of Lucia O'Farrell, speaking publicly about her fight justice over many years.
At times, he was something of a lone voice as the rest of the establishment seemed to move on from this particular cause.
He was 'thrilled' to witness this State apology, but wasn't about to give the political world a clap on the back for its part in bringing it about.
Lucia 'painted a picture of a State and a system that was rotten. It wasn't the Government and system who uncovered all the wrongdoings. It was Lucia O'Farrell'.
This should have been their work but 'she told us to do the job'.
In what some will see as a swipe at his party leader, McGuinness praised Jim O'Callaghan for taking action in 'a piece of leadership action others should take note of'. Politicians are not in the Dáil 'to be blindly led by party whips'.
Lucia used to ask him how she could face Shane eventually if she didn't get justice.
'Well, Lucia O'Farrell, you can face him whenever that day comes because you certainly have brought justice for Shane and certainly exposed the State for what it is.'
Her fight, driven by 'a love from her son that was unmatched and drove her on, was nearing its end.
'I know that Shane would like you to live your life' John said, looking up to Lucia in the gallery. 'So when you go up to visit him this evening, you have something very substantial to report.'
He would want to see her and Jim and the girls catch up on the lost years.
'Live out your life!' he cried.
'And live it out in memory of Shane.'
On Tuesday night, after the excitement of Dáil Éireann, Lucia returned to Monaghan, the cemetery and Shane.
They had a lot to talk about.
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