THE FAMILY OF journalism student Joe Drennan, who died in a hit-and-run in Limerick, said they were “disgusted” by his killer’s sentence of six-and-a-half years, after a judge said it would run concurrent to another sentence imposed on the driver for firing an automatic firearm in a separate incident.

Limerick gangland criminal Kieran Fogarty was jailed for eight years for firing the 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 standing waiting at a bus stop, on 13 October 2023.

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

Fogarty received further concurrent sentences for engaging in violent disorder, possessing cocaine, MDMA and alprazolam drugs for sale or supply, and his guilty plea to threatening to kill Raymond Collins Jr in April 2023 was taken into consideration by the judge.

In court, after the sentences were imposed, Tim Drennan, the father of Joe Drennan, asked Judge Colin Daly: “Sorry, your honour, does that mean that this fella (Fogarty) will not serve a day (in jail) for killing my son?”.

Earlier, the judge had said the hit-and-run sentence would run in addition to the shooting sentence, but later the judge corrected this.

The judge, rising from his bench, did not respond to Tim Drennan’s query, and retired to his private chambers.

Joe Drennan was waiting at a bus stop when Kieran Fogarty ploughed into him whilst driving a black BMW car, killing him.

Afterwards, speaking outside the court, Joe Drennan’s parents, Tim and Marguerite, said they were “disgusted” by the outcome. In their eyes, they said, Fogarty “would not serve anything” for Joe’s death.

Holding a picture of their son in a key-ring, Tim Drennan said Kieran Fogarty had left his son to “die like a dog on the street”. He said he felt like Fogarty had got away without punishment for “killing my son”.

Marguerite Drennan said Fogarty’s sentence for her son’s death was “absolutely unbelievable” and “really hard to take”.

“He (Fogarty) did an awful lot of crime for a few years in jail, he got a free ride for killing Joe, he got nothing,” said Tim Drennan.

“He (Fogarty) got eight years for shooting into a wall, and he got six-and-a-half years for killing Joe, and he’s not going to be serving anything for Joe because the other one is a longer sentence,” Tim Drennan added.

Paying tribute to her son, Marguerite Drennan said: “Joe was amazing, the bubble of our lives, he was just everything to us, he was the chief editor of the Limerick Voice (University of Limerick student newspaper), he worked for Gay Community News, he was the voice for the voiceless.”

Tim Drennan added: “That man (Fogarty) gave Joe no help after he crashed into him and killed him and left him lying under the car. At the end of the day, Joe was a unique individual, and he basically died like a dog on the street in Limerick when (Fogarty) left him there, and now today he gets nothing for it.”

Tim and Marguerite Drennan said they hoped that the Director of Public Prosecutions would appeal Fogarty’s sentence in respect of their son’s death, that it would be served consecutively/additionally to Fogarty’s sentence for the shooting.

The Drennans said they were also disappointed for the Gardaí “who put in an awful lot of work” into the prosecution against Fogarty for their son’s death. “It’s a kick in the teeth for that”.

Tim and Marguerite said, in their opinion, they got “no justice” for their son.

“Hopefully it will be appealed, they have 28-days to appeal it, the DPP has to make up its mind, we can’t say, but hopefully it will be appealed, it has to be appealed, because there is no sense to it,” they added.

Tim Drennan said: “He (Fogarty) wont serve a day for Joe, he did all them other things first, so it was a free run for Joe.

“What people should understand is that, Joe was on his own at the bus stop, there could have been ten people at that bus stop, there could have been ten people dead, and would he (Fogarty) have got a concurrent sentence for (ten deaths)?”, he added.

Fogarty, (21), of Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, killed Joe Drennan whilst he was on bail, disqualified from driving for other driving offences, and subject to five outstanding arrest warrants,

Moments before hitting Joe Drennan, from Mountrath, Co Laois, Fogarty was filming himself on a mobile phone and sharing the video on social media, whilst still driving his BMW 5 Series, while he outpaced a garda car, at 122km/h in a 50km/h zone.

Fogarty broke a red light, stuck a car, lost control of the BMW and slammed into Joe Drennan, who was waiting at a bus stop at Dublin Road, Castletroy, Limerick.

The Garda who was driving the patrol car behind Fogarty was “alarmed” at his speed, but as they were travelling in a busy built-up residential area, the Garda followed Fogarty from a safe distance and ultimately lost him in his sights prior to the collision.

Fogarty went on the run following the hit and run and communicated with family members and a criminal associate by text and voice messages.

Believing he had killed two people, Fogarty messaged an associate, telling him: “I’m after killing a 21-year old and a woman”.

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

Fogarty had messaged his mother: “What do you want me to do, go up to the (Garda) Barracks and say I killed someone stone dead on the road and I don’t even think they know it was me.

“I got to to wipe the car down a small bit before I even got out of it (the car). Ye don’t realise that though do ye,” he said in the message.

A voice message Fogarty sent to a criminal associate which was played in court, stated: “I don’t know how I was able to walk out of that son, watch how bad the beamer (BMW) is in that, boy it’s wrapped around the pole and all.” “I spun about 10 times I’d say, I bounced off a wall and took that young fella with me at the bus stop cause his bus wasn’t there in time.”

A letter of apology written by Fogarty to Joe Drennan’s family read: “I was reckless and out of control, I did not realise I hit Mr Drennan, it was never my intention to hurt anyone on the night. I am truly sorry.”

Inspector Padraig Sutton, who led the investigation into the fatal hit and run, told the court that in his opinion, Fogarty’s apology had rung “hollow” given the evidence against him.

In her victim impact statement, Joe Drennan’s sister, Sarah Drennan, said her brother’s death had “left an unbearable emptiness” in her family. “Joe was taken in a most violent, senseless way possible, in a moment of senseless, reckless disregard for human life,” she said.

Fogarty’s own barrister, senior counsel, Mark Nicholas, said Fogarty’s driving on the night was “appalling, undeniably serious, reckless, dangerous, disgraceful and inexcusable”.

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