Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Earlier today, Sinn Féin met the family of Joe Drennan. Joe was killed in a hit-and-run in October 2023. The man who killed Joe had 46 previous convictions. He was on bail at the time and was banned from driving. That night, he drove a BMW at top speed, broke a red light, smashed a car so fast that even after the back wheel had come off, the car continued to proceed to smash into Joe, robbing him of his young life. That man then got out, wiped down the car and ran away like a coward. Shockingly, he will not serve a single day for killing Joe as the sentence is to run concurrently with a separate firearms conviction. Does the Minister agree that the criminal justice system in this case has failed Joe Drennan and his family? Will the Government act in response? In particular, will it introduce legislation to ensure that concurrent sentences do not apply for separate instances where in one of those instances loss of life has resulted?

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