Humphreys commits to meeting Shane O’Farrell’s mother

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

Heather Humphreys said she has not spoken to Lucia O’Farrell during the presidential campaign, but committed to engaging with her in the future.

Ms O’Farrell has been critical of the former minister’s level of support for her campaign for justice for her late son Shane, who was hit by a car driven by a man who should have been in jail.

Ms Humphreys has maintained that she “did everything” she could for the family, who were her constituents.

She said: “I spoke to her for, I’d say, about an hour and a half, the first time that I heard about the loss of Shane.

“And can I just say it would break anybody’s heart. I’m a mother too, and I had children around the same age as her Shane, and that could have been any of us, and it really is heartbreaking what the O’Farrell family had to put up with with the loss of their dear son.”

Speaking on Virgin Media’s Big Interview, she added: “I did everything I could.”

On August 2 2011, Shane, a 23-year-old law graduate, was cycling home when he was hit by a car in the Carrickmacross area of Co Monaghan.

The driver of the car, Zigimantas Gridziuska, failed to stop.

The Lithuanian national had a number of previous convictions, including for theft and drugs offences.

On the day he hit Mr O’Farrell, Gridziuska should have been in jail for breaches of bail conditions that were applied to him at the time.

Gridziuska was prosecuted in February 2013 for dangerous driving causing Mr O’Farrell’s death.

He was acquitted of that charge by direction of the trial judge and, under the law at the time, a lesser charge of careless driving was not open to the jury.

It is understood he has returned to Lithuania.

Mr O’Farrell’s family have been calling for a public inquiry into the circumstances of his death and why Gridziuska had not been in jail.

Asked why she had not voted in support of a public inquiry, Ms Humphreys said: “I did everything I could, and I really am sorry that the O’Farrell family feel it wasn’t enough.”

She added: “I can explain to you about [not] voting [for the inquiry] in the Dail, I was actually abroad. I was on a trade mission in another country when that actually took place.”

Ms Humphreys noted that there had been a Garda Ombudsman probe and judge-led inquiry into the circumstances of his death.

“As a minister, you are limited in what you can do, because you cannot interfere when there’s an inquiry taking place.

Pressed on why she did not attend a vigil for Shane O’Farrell, Ms Humphreys said: “To be quite honest, I don’t actually know where I was.”

Ms Humphreys said she had not spoken to Ms O’Farrell since the campaign began but that she had “no problem” with speaking to her or meeting her.