A man is due to appear before Limerick District Court, later this morning, to face additional charges in connection with the death of University of Limerick journalism student Joe Drennan who was killed in a hit-and-run last year.
Mr. Drennan (20), from Mountrath, Co Laois, was waiting at a bus stop on Dublin Road, Limerick, when a car ploughed into him killing him, and the driver fled the scene, on October 13th last.
Kieran Fogarty, (20), of Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, appeared in court last January, charged with dangerous driving causing Mr. Drennan’s death, driving without insurance, and driving without a licence.
Mr Fogarty is to face additional charges this morning, gardaí confirmed.
At a bail hearing last January, gardaí alleged that moments prior to the fatal hit-and-run, Mr. Fogarty was seen driving a black coloured BMW “dangerously” and “at speed”.
Mr Fogarty overtook a Garda patrol car at speed as he travelled from Annacotty towards Limerick City, the bail hearing heard.
Gardaí said they activated their patrol car’s blue lights and sirens and followed Mr. Fogarty “at a safe distance”, but that Mr. Fogarty continued at speed, broke a red light, and collided with a white coloured Volkswagen car, injuring the male driver and female front seat passenger.
Then the BMW allegedly mounted a curb near a bus stop and struck Mr Drennan who died.
Gardaí claimed Mr Fogarty “failed to remain at the scene and failed to render assistance to Joe Drennan”.
“The DPP is considering further serious charges,” Detective Garda Shane O’Neill, Roxboro Road Garda Station, told the hearing.
Mr Drennan, an editor-in-chief at the University of Limerick student newspaper, Limerick Voice, was shortlisted for Journalist of the Year at the 2023 Student Media Awards.
Mr Drennan’s mother Marguerite Drennan told the student newspaper last month that “a light has gone” out in her family since her son’s death.
The UL Journalism School launched the Joe Drennan Memorial Competition for Inclusive Journalism, “to recognise journalism that enhances understanding of marginalised communities”.
"It has been the most horrific time, and we can say all the usual platitudes, but for us, we are not fine, we will not be fine or grand anytime soon, we are hurt, we are angry, we are sad, we are broken, and we will be for the foreseeable, and please God the 'Only Time Will Heal' might happen someday but that someday is not today,” Marguerite Drennan said.
“We are all struggling in so many ways, It is physically hard to breathe at times with the weight of his (Joe’s) loss. Since his death, it’s as though a light is gone from our family, Joe was so funny, he made us laugh every day,” she said.
“We wake up and we do the normal things but it's as though there is this filter, and nothing tastes the same or looks the same.
“Joe was such a big part of all of our lives, I miss his phone calls every day and our chats; we keep going because we know that is what he would want but it's hard."
Mr. Drennan was shortlisted for Journalist of the Year at the National Student Media Awards last year, which recognised his contributions to GCN (Gay Community News) where he completed his third-level journalism work placement.
“He wanted to change the world, he was so determined and focused and knew exactly what he wanted from life; there is no doubt in my mind that he would have succeeded because he wasn’t afraid to go for it and work hard,” his mother added.
Mr. Drennan’s sisters Sarah, Ava, and Marie, and brothers Richard, John, and Kieran, remembered him as “pure sunshine on a cloudy day”.
Sarah Drennan said her late brother was “a bubble of fresh air” with a “contagious laugh”.
“Joe was intelligent, stylish, kind-hearted, beautiful, hilarious, and so so loving.
“Every day I wake up and my heart aches when I look at my phone to see no message from him. Every day I think of ringing him when I get a free moment and the realisation that I can't sinks in and breaks my heart all over again like the night I heard he was killed."
"I then think of all the stuff we will miss out on because he isn't here with us anymore. Joe was our sunshine, and we now live in a dark eclipse.”
Marguerite Drennan said she and her family were proud that Joe had been honoured by his university and peers: “The writing competition is a wonderful tribute to his memory, he would have been so thrilled."
The winner of the writing competition, which will run annually, will also receive a perpetual trophy presented by members of the Drennan family.
By David Raleigh
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