McGovern, who was recently jailed for 24 years, lodged papers through his solicitor Wayne Kenny, seeking a judicial review over an issue with the prison where he is serving his sentence
15:02, 19 Aug 2026
Sean McGovern.
Kinahan mobster Sean McGovern is suing the governor of Portlaoise Prison, seeking a judicial review over a decision made about his conditions.
McGovern, who was recently jailed for 24 years, lodged papers through his solicitor Wayne Kenny, seeking a judicial review over an issue with the prison where he is serving his sentence.
Wayne Kenny solicitors has been contacted for comment – while the Irish Prison Service said it cannot comment on individual prisoner cases.
The legal challenge comes as McGovern’s boss Daniel Kinahan joined him in Portlaoise Prison last week. The pair are understood to not be mixing so far – but are hopeful of a yard meet up.
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Kinahan is being held on the A Block of the maximum security prison – and is isolated from other prisoners on his landing.
McGovern (40), who was extradited from Dubai in May 2025, received a 10-year prison sentence for directing a criminal organisation in the surveillance of Hutch associate James ‘Mago’ Gately between 2015 and 2017 – and a further 14 years for directing the gang in the murder of innocent father of two Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan on December 22, 2016.
Following the sentence Christopher Kirwan directly addressed his father’s killer and asked him if his actions – which have resulted in him being jailed for the next two decades, are really worth it.
“It’s heartbreaking to think that a man who has two children of his own, a man who himself survived being shot in the Regency Hotel, could go and inflict such pain and torment on any other family,” he said.
“He watched and tracked our Dad for nine long months, with countless chances to walk away, to change his mind and just chose a different path. But he didn’t. He and his partner fled the country shortly after and in doing so lost the chance to stand at his own Dad’s funeral. Was it really worth it Sean?” he asked.
He also spoke of the pain and loss that he and his sister Donna, who have campaigned for justice for over 10 years, have felt.
“Today marks the end of a long and painful journey for me and my sister. The past 10 years of sitting in court rooms and listening to evidence about the brutal murder of our father. Nothing can ever bring him back and no verdict can ever undo the loss and trauma we have suffered.”
In sentencing McGovern in the Special Criminal Court, presiding Judge Patrick McGrath ordered that both sentences be served consecutively – meaning he was sentenced to a total of 24 years. This was also backdated to when he first went into custody in Dubai Prison in October of 2024.
Judge McGrath, who described McGovern as a “trusted lieutenant” of the cartel, cited the “particularly callous” nature of the plot to murder Mr Kirwan – and highlighted an encrypted message uncovered by Gardai in which he told associates about “putting the teeth on the Duck to get his confidence back.”
‘Teeth,’ the court had heard, was a cartel hitman, and Mr Kirwan – who was identified by the cartel after he was seen attending the funeral of murder victim Eddie Hutch, was “an easy victim,” the Judge said.
Noel Kirwan’s son Kristopher speaking to the media outside the Special Criminal Court in Dublin after Sean McGovern, described as a “senior lieutenant” in the Kinahan organised crime gang, was sentenced to 24 years in prison. (Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire)
Sean McGovern.
The Special Criminal Court heard back in April after McGovern pleaded guilty, of encrypted conversations immediately following the Regency Hotel attack, in which cartel lieutenant David Byrne was shot dead. During these conversations, McGovern vowed:
“They targeted us, this is personal. On my baby’s life, I’m not stopping now.”
He also spoke in private messages uncovered by gardai from devices seized from him that he and other senior members of the Kinahan cartel could’ve been totally wiped out that day.
“It could have been the six of us and they could have wiped out the whole bloodline,” McGovern said.
Describing McGovern as a “serious lieutenant and long term member” of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, Judge McGrath said he knew he was directing a murder – and this was a particularly aggravating factor.
“It is clear from the evidence that the Kinahan organised crime group is a particularly large, sinister and dangerous organisation,” he told the court.
Judge McGrath told the court that the surveillance of Mr Gately – who was residing in a flat in Belfast in March 2017 and who the cartel had a tracker placed on his car, was “minutely and carefully planned in advance.”
Investigating gardai obtained meticulous evidence including CCTV, phone and GPS data as well as evidence from seized encrypted phones that were using a ‘Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) service to communicate their murder plots.
Recalling the evidence given in court by Detective Superintendent David Gallagher and Detective Sergeant Donal Daly, Judge McGrath stated that McGovern’s involvement in the surveillance of Mago Gately began as far back as October 18 2015.
Daniel Kinahan (back, right) leaving the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin, where he was remanded in custody charged with directing an organised crime group, after being extradited from Dubai. (Image: Mark Marlow/PA Wire)
A huge security operation took place for the extradition of Daniel Kinahan
The plot, he said, included the importation of tracking devices and placing them on vehicles belonging to family members of the Hutch Organised Crime member in an attempt to establish his whereabouts.
Estonian hitman Imre Arakas was ultimately flown in by the cartel to “target and kill James Gately,” he told the court – and as a result the PSNI contacted him and told him of the imminent threat to his life. The tracking device – which McGovern and Keating had been captured on CCTV delivering and the latter placing on Gately’s car in Belfast, was found and seized by investigators.
The pair were caught on CCTV and later GPS data, the court heard, driving their Peugeot Partner van from Dublin Airport to the College Court apartments, where they surveilled Gately’s movements on two occasions.
The communication clearly showed McGovern was “formulating a plan as to how to get to Mr Gately,” Judge McGrath told the court. He also spoke of the evidence given in court about the existence of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group – and how McGovern was feeding information up the chain of command.
Sean McGovern has been sentenced at the Special criminal Court in Dublin
Sean McGovern(Image: Mick O’Neill)
Teams were being assembled by other persons on the direction of others higher up in the organisation, he said, and it was accepted in evidence that McGovern – who was “three tiers down in the group”—might not have necessarily known who the assassins were.
The Judge added however that the evidence established that McGovern was “a significant individual in his own right operating from Ireland.”
In relation to the murder of Mr Kirwan, the Judge said that he was targeted “solely because of his personal links to the Hutch family,” and he “was perceived as an easy target.”
The evidence gathered established the “significant role” of McGovern in the planning of the murder, Judge McGrath said.
A tracking device was purchased in England and handed to McGovern on November 3rd, 2016. It was initially placed on Mr Kirwan’s then BMW – and later swapped to his new car after he traded it in, on December 20th.
GPS data from the tracking device which was ultimately seized by gardai showed that the settings were changed by the owner shortly before the killing to report Mr Kirwan’s location every 30 seconds.
“This obviously enabled those monitoring the movements of this device to more precisely monitor its location and progress,” the Judge said.
The evidence showed that it was McGovern who did this – and a reasonable inference could also be drawn that he made a call from a burner phone directly to those carrying out the murder in the minutes beforehand, the Judge said.
Judge McGrath specifically referenced an encrypted message from ‘Knife’ to another member of the crime group about “putting the teeth on the Duck to get his confidence back,” a reference to putting a hitman on Noel Kirwan.
He also mentioned the victim impact statement of Donna Kirwan – a daughter of Mr Kirwan, describing him as a “harrowing man who went out of his way for his family. “She described his loss as unbearable,” he said.
The Judge then cited the evidence of Detective Sergeant Daly who said that McGovern “planned, oversaw and directed the murder of Noel Kirwan.”
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