Conor O’Brien jailed for 10 years over firearms offences

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Conor O’Brien was sentenced to 11 years in prison, with the final 12 months suspended for one year, by the Special Criminal Court on March 16, 2026. Judge Karen O’Connor said O’Brien had shown a cavalier attitude towards the harm caused by his role in supplying arms and ammunition.

O’Brien, of Kilpatrick, Ardee, Co Louth, pleaded guilty to six charges in November 2025. One concerned participating in or contributing to activity intended to facilitate a criminal organisation’s importation of firearms, ammunition and explosives between February 10, 2023, and July 19, 2024. The other five concerned possession or control of firearms or ammunition in suspicious circumstances at John Street, Blackstick, Ardee, on July 19, 2024.

The items included two AR-15 rifle barrels, four AM-15 rifle barrels, eight Sig Sauer pistol frames, one Canik pistol frame and four Sig Sauer pistol slides.

The judge set a 15-year headline sentence and reduced it after considering mitigating factors, including O’Brien’s guilty plea. She said the evidence against him was compelling: he had been caught with an arsenal in a shed he rented. When arrested, O’Brien told gardaí he was afraid he would be battered if he did not go to the US to get the guns.

The court ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the firearms and ammunition. Further submissions were due the following week on cash seized during the investigation. O’Brien’s counsel said he did not consent to its forfeiture because money-laundering charges against him were no longer being pursued.

His co-accused, Mark McCourt, was sentenced by the Special Criminal Court on November 3, 2025, to 12 years for arms smuggling. He received concurrent 10-year sentences on four firearms possession charges; the remaining 20 counts were taken into account. He had pleaded guilty in July 2025 to participation in a criminal organisation’s efforts to import restricted weapons and to possession of firearms.