{"id":367621,"date":"2026-03-04T16:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T16:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/367621\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T16:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T16:31:14","slug":"breaking-limerick-student-pleads-guilty-to-dangerous-driving-causing-the-deaths-of-two-young-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/367621\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Limerick student pleads guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of two young men"},"content":{"rendered":"

A STUDENT has pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to dangerous<\/a> driving causing the deaths of two of his friends, and to driving under the influence of alcohol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patrick Carroll (21) of Drinagh, Fivealley, Birr, Co Offaly was driving the vehicle when the collision occurred on the N69 at Ballyengland, Askeaton on February 20, 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was 19-years-old at the time and his two friends Darragh Dullea and Cillian Kirwan both lost their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The court heard that Cillian Kirwan\u2019s mother, Sin\u00e9ad Molloy and his sister \u00c1ine were both present for the arraignment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Carroll pleaded guilty to all three counts: dangerous driving causing the death of Darragh Dullea, dangerous driving causing the death of Cillian Kirwan and driving under the influence of alcohol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Darragh Dullea from Clonakilty in Cork was 20 at the time of the collision, while Cillian Kirwan from Piltown, Kilkenny was 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ ALSO:\u00a0Free online programme for people in Limerick and the Mid-West to help manage stress and anxiety<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley BL, instructed by solicitor Brendan Gill, told the court that an early plea was indicated and prosecution were notified in advance, in respect of the double driving fatality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two deceased were his friends and passengers in the car he was driving,\u201d she told the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The late Darragh Dullea and Cillian Kirwan<\/p>\n

The barrister added that they were all friends and all students in Salesian Agricultural College in Pallaskenry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had been studying together and they knew each other,\u201d Ms Buckley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The court heard that at the sentencing hearing, victim impact statements from the Dullea and Kirwan families will be heard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barrister for Mr Kirwan, Brian McInerney SC, said that they will be asking for a probation report, as this would be \u201can appropriate case for one.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also asked that the accused be remanded on bail on the same terms as before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Judge Simon McAleese extended his condolences to the families of the two deceased.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a terrible nightmare to have to endure and to continue to endure,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A date for sentencing will be set in April.<\/p>\n

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ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A STUDENT has pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to dangerous driving causing the deaths of two of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[27638,9,10,1877,18,13,14,6,19,17,1328,11,12,1844,83705,15,16,5,3171,15806,7,8],"class_list":["post-367621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-askeaton","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-cork","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kilkenny","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-limerick","tag-limerick-circuit-court","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-offaly","tag-pallaskenry","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116171865170756271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}