A protest calling for justice for a journalism student killed in a hit and run incident in 2023 took place in Limerick city centre on Saturday.
The campaign wants the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to appeal a sentence imposed on the killer of journalism student Joe Drennan.
Mr Drennan was killed when convicted criminal Kieran Fogarty struck him with his car while driving 122km/h in a 50km/h zone.
Fogarty, 19-year-old at the time, was on bail and banned from driving when the incident occurred. The journalism student from Mountrath, Co Laois, who was 21 at the time, was waiting for a bus when he was struck and killed.
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Fogarty attempted to wipe his DNA from the inside of the car after pinning Mr Drennan underneath the vehicle and fled the scene on foot without offering any assistance.
Last week at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Colin Daly sentenced Fogarty to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to carrying out a drive-by shooting six months before Mr Drennan’s death.
Initially the hearing was told that Fogarty would serve an additional six-and-a-half years for killing Joe Drennan, however the judge later said the hit-and-run sentence would run concurrently with the shooting sentence.
The Drennan family are seeking an appeal of this sentence by the DPP. They want to see the hit-and-run sentence served consecutively to Fogarty’s gun-related sentence – meaning he would serve 14½ years in prison.
The protest on Limerick City’s Bedford Row saw friends of Mr Drennan criticise the “injustice” of the sentencing.
Mr Drennan’s closest friend, Maeve Breslin, who spoke at the event, said it was “so good” to see the number of people who “showed up for Joe”.
“It just shows how many people are outraged by this injustice,” she said.
“He changed a lot of people’s lives even by knowing him ... even if he served you in a coffee shop or if he was your friend – he impacted so many people’s lives.
“It was so great to see everyone come out and show that we’re not happy with this sentence that Kieran Fogarty has received, and we need the DPP to appeal this decision urgently.”
Ms Breslin added that no family should ever have to go through “this amount of injustice” on top of grieving a loved one.
Natasha O’Brien, a Limerick woman who was assaulted by a soldier in a random attack in 2022, said she knew all about “unjust” prison sentences.
Her attacker, Cathal Crotty, was jailed by the Court of Appeal earlier this month for two years for his “brutal and unprovoked” assault on her after initially receiving a fully suspended sentence.
She said her heart “broke into a million pieces” when she heard about the sentencing for Mr Drennan’s killer.
“The system has yet again monumentally failed a victim and their family and completely ignored the life of the victim and the suffering of the family,” Ms O’Brien said.
“The demonstration today was so important to really stand with the family and show them that they are not alone.
“All the support that I received in my fight needs to now be given to Joe – we cannot allow his family to endure this alone.”
The Drennan family have also launched an online petition drawing attention to the case and calling for a review of sentencing law in Ireland.
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