Irish government to apologise over fatal crash

The Irish government is to apologise to the family of a cyclist killed in a hit-and-run by a driver who should have been in jail at the time of the crash.

Shane O'Farrell was 23 when he was hit by a car while cycling near his home in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, in 2011.

The driver, Zigimantas Gridziuska, had more than 40 convictions at the time, including some in Northern Ireland.

Mr O'Farrell's mother, Lucia O'Farrell, told Irish broadcast RTÉ that her family is expecting a public apology to be made in the Dáil (Irish parliament) on Tuesday.

The O'Farrell family have campaigned for years for a public inquiry into their son's death.

"Shane's case raises serious issues about how the criminal justice system works and how it ought to work," Mrs O'Farrell told RTÉ's Colm Ó Mongáin.

"We await the apology on Tuesday."

The body of the young law graduate was found nearly 60 yards (54m) from the point where he was hit by a car on 2 August 2011.

Gridziuska, a Lithuanian national, left the scene of the fatal crash but the following day he handed himself into gardaí (Irish police).

He had been a regular defendant in courts in Monaghan, Cavan and Louth in the years prior to the killing, according to RTÉ

In the January before the fatal crash, a ruling from Monaghan Circuit Court meant Gridziuska should have been in jail at the time of Mr O'Farrell's death.

Instead, he remained on bail.

Another prison sentence handed down in February 2011 was also not imposed.

The Court Services of Ireland previously said Gridziuska's prison sentences were never served because of what it described as an administrative error.

As part of their long-running campaign, the O'Farrell family have previously travelled to Belfast and Brussels to raise their case in Stormont and the European Parliament.