Declan Donaghey’s Dublin riots sentence upheld on appeal

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

The Court of Appeal dismissed Declan Donaghey’s appeal against the severity of his Dublin riots sentence on 19 May 2026. Judge Nuala Butler delivered the court’s judgment, which upheld his effective six-and-a-half-year prison term.

Donaghey pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to riot, arson and criminal damage. The offences took place on 23 November 2023. A violent disorder count and a further criminal damage count were taken into consideration.

On 20 November 2024, Judge Orla Crowe sentenced him to seven-and-a-half years for arson, with the final year suspended to encourage rehabilitation. She imposed four-and-a-half years for riot and three years for criminal damage, all to run concurrently. The sentence was backdated to 18 November 2024.

CCTV showed Donaghey putting a burning box into a Garda patrol car and wiping its door handle. He also damaged another patrol car and threw a bicycle saddle at an accommodation centre for international protection applicants.

Donaghey said he had acted after a close relation was at the school where people had been attacked earlier that day. The court heard the child was his partner’s cousin’s child and was uninjured. The appeal court said the connection was tenuous and could not justify his behaviour.

On appeal, Donaghey argued that the ten-year headline sentence for arson was too high and that insufficient regard had been given to mitigation and rehabilitation. His counsel accepted in oral argument that the 35% reduction, including the suspended portion, was not unreasonable, but maintained that the resulting sentence was disproportionate because the headline figure was excessive.

The appeal court found no error of principle in the headline sentence or the reductions and concluded that the ultimate sentence was not disproportionate.