![\"Noel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/daughter-of-noel-kirwan-calls-kinahan-gang-lieutenant-stupid.jpg\")
Noel Kirwan\u2019s daughter Donna Kirwan (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\nA family\u2019s \u201cnormal day\u201d in the run up to Christmas turned into its \u201cworst nightmare\u201d when a grandfather was shot dead, Dublin\u2019s Special Criminal Court has heard.<\/p>\n
Noel Kirwan, 62, died after being shot five times outside his Dublin home on December 22, 2016.<\/p>\n
Garda\u00ed said there was no evidence Mr Kirwan was involved in any form of criminality.<\/p>\n
Sean McGovern, 39, has pleaded guilty to directing the activities of a criminal organisation in the lead-up to Kirwan\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n
He has also pleaded guilty to directing the activities of a criminal organisation in relation to the targeting and surveillance of James Gately in 2017, with a view to having him shot. But who was not ultimately killed.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the three-judge non-jury Special Criminal Court convened for a sentencing hearing in relation to the charges against McGovern, who was identified by garda\u00ed as a \u201csenior lieutenant\u201d of the Kinahan organised crime group (OCG) in Ireland.<\/p>\n
In a victim-impact statement read to the court on her behalf, Kirwan\u2019s daughter, Donna Kirwan, said she had been at work at the time of the shooting and said: \u201cWhat started as for a normal day turned into our worst nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the pain she had would never leave her.<\/p>\n
She said her brother Kristopher was in Manchester at the time, and she would \u201cnever forget his screams\u201d when she confirmed their father\u2019s death on the phone.<\/p>\n
They did not see their father\u2019s body in the morgue until Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWhat was supposed to be one of the happiest days of the year for families, was like being in a horror movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noel Kirwan\u2019s daughter Donna Kirwan (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n
She said they were \u201cpainting smiles on our faces\u201d trying to shield the full facts of what happened from her son at Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was our dad, our friend, our safety net \u2013 he was supposed to walk me down the aisle one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
She described her father as a hard worker and a kind man who would give a helping hand to anyone who needed it.<\/p>\n
She said he never got involved in selling drugs.<\/p>\n
Speaking about McGovern and his injuries from an earlier shooting, which escalated the bitter Hutch-Kinahan feud, she said: \u201cYou were shot yourself in the Regency Hotel, you would have seen the fear and panic in your own family that day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would you chose to inflict that pain on us \u2013 it was Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGovern, a father of two, looked at the floor for much of the victim impact statement.<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cYou should have been out shopping for your own kids, not planning the murder of a 62-year-old grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirwan said her father \u201cwould actually be offended that someone as stupid as you had him killed\u201d.<\/p>\n
She pointed out DNA evidence left behind and said: \u201cHow you thought you were going to get away with it is beyond me.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cNot only have you destroyed our lives, you have destroyed your own.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said McGovern had not been able to attend his own father\u2019s funeral as he was in the UAE.<\/p>\n
![\"Noel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777316829_11_daughter-of-noel-kirwan-calls-kinahan-gang-lieutenant-stupid.jpg\")
Noel Kirwan\u2019s daughter Donna Kirwan and son Kristopher (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n
A separate victim-impact statement from Mr Kirwan\u2019s partner, Bernadette Roe, was handed into the court but not read aloud.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the hearing, Detective Sergeant Dolan Daly gave evidence on McGovern\u2019s role in the lead up to the murder.<\/p>\n
Daly said he had been targeted solely because of perceived links to the Hutch OCG \u2013 as he had been photographed by the media when he attended a funeral for a member of the Hutch family.<\/p>\n
Kirwan was murdered after parking his car outside his home.<\/p>\n
Daly said: \u201cWithin seconds of parking, at least seven shots were fired through the driver\u2019s window of the vehicle, hitting Noel Kirwan on five occasions.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gave evidence linking McGovern to a \u201cburner\u201d phone used in planning the attack, as well as a tracking device that had been placed underneath Kirwan\u2019s car.<\/p>\n
![\"Sean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4327958-3-articlelarge-sean-20mcgovern.jpg\")
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