The family of journalism student Joe Drennan, who was killed in a hit-and-run in Limerick, have expressed their disgust over the sentencing of Mr Drennan’s killer.

Limerick gangland criminal, Kieran Fogarty, (21), of Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, was jailed for eight years for firing an illegal automatic firearm at the front of a house where children played in Limerick City in April 2023.

Six months afterwards, and whilst he was on bail and disqualified from driving for road traffic offences, Fogarty crashed into and killed Joe Drennan, (21), a University of Limerick journalism student who was waiting at a bus stop, on October 13th, 2023.

Moments before ploughing into Mr Drennan, Fogarty was filming himself on a mobile phone and sharing the video on social media, whilst still driving at 122km/h in a 50km/h zone.

He broke a red light, stuck a car, lost control of his BMW and slammed into Mr Drennan.

On the run

Despite his mother asking him to give himself up, Fogarty remained on the run until he was arrested by Gardaí a month later.

Before fleeing the crash scene and failing to offer assistance to Mr Drennan nor alert the emergency services, Fogarty attempted to wipe his forensic presence from the car, but Gardaí matched his DNA on an airbag that deployed in the hit and run.

Fogarty, who had 46 previous convictions including 41 for road traffic offences including dangerous driving, pleaded guilty to all of the offences against him.

Yesterday in court, Judge Colin Daly said that Fogarty’s sentence for killing Mr Drennan would run concurrently with his sentence for the shooting, meaning he will serve no extra time.

Joe’s mother Marguerite Drennan told The Pat Kenny Show that the result of yesterday's sentencing was “a kick in the teeth”.

“[Fogarty] shouldn’t have been out on the street,” she said.

“So, it’s just yesterday was a kick in the teeth, a kick in the stomach.

“And for the Guards as well; like the Guards put an awful lot of manpower into this.

“It’s just dreadful.”

Limerick student Joe Drennan. Image: RIP.ie

Ms Drennan said her family will be appealing the sentence.

“[The judge] said it was consecutive and we thought that we were home and dry,” she said.

“The judge said in court yesterday that it was a consecutive sentence and then he changed his mind at the last minute.”

'He shouldn't have been on the streets'

According to Ms Drennan, Fogarty “won’t do an extra day for what he did to our Joe”.

“He was out on bail and he shouldn’t have been on the streets at all and that’s why we’re so angry,” she said.

“[The sentencing] means he’s not served a day for Joe.”

'He was the apple of our eye'

Ms Drennan said her son was “an exceptional character”.

“He was kind, funny and he was the apple of our eye,” she said.

“He was very talented – extremely talented actually and he was doing fourth-year journalism in Limerick.”

Mr Drennan was also the chief editor of the University of Limerick student newspaper, the Limerick Voice.

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Main image: Limerick student Joe Drennan. Image: RIP.ie.