Michael Crotty jailed for phone credit used in murder

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

Michael Crotty was jailed for two years at the Special Criminal Court on 15 May 2024, after admitting recklessly supplying phone credit used to coordinate Noel Kirwan’s murder.

Crotty bought a €20 top-up for a phone used in coordinating the 2016 murder. Kirwan was shot in his car outside his home on St Ronan’s Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin, on 22 December 2016.

The judge set a six-year headline sentence, then reduced it to two years after considering Crotty’s guilty plea and lack of previous convictions. She said there was no evidence he knew the credit would be used in a murder, though its use in the killing aggravated the offence.

The judge also cited Crotty’s low risk of reoffending and his standing as an employer in his Tipperary community among the mitigating circumstances.