Joseph Byrne jailed for supplying handgun used to shoot Sinead Connolly

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

Joseph Byrne was sentenced to 11 years in prison, with the final 18 months suspended, for possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. Mr Justice Paul McDermott sentenced him at the Central Criminal Court on 6 October 2022.

Byrne pleaded guilty to possessing a G9A Grand Power semi-automatic handgun with intent to endanger life and to possessing ammunition. The proceedings were reported on 6 October 2022.

On 6 March 2021, Dean McCarthy called Byrne for help because he believed he was under threat from men in Sinead Connolly’s apartment in Bluebell. Byrne arrived with a loaded handgun and handed it to McCarthy, who broke down the door and shot Connolly three times.

Connolly survived but was left paralysed, needed a wheelchair for mobility and suffered injuries that reduced her life expectancy. Her eight-year-old daughter hid under a table during the shooting.

The judge set a 14-year headline sentence for the firearm offence and reduced it to 11 years, taking account of Byrne’s early guilty plea, engagement with probation services and genuine remorse. He suspended 18 months on conditions. A five-year sentence for ammunition possession was ordered to run concurrently, and Byrne’s sentence was to be backdated to when he first went into custody.

Dean McCarthy had been jailed for 15 years after pleading guilty to Connolly’s attempted murder.