List of major crimes in Ireland

Major crimes in Ireland

Date	Name	Deaths	Location	Summary
1954	Murder of Catherine Cooper	1	Limerick, Ireland	Catherine Cooper, a 65-year-old nurse, is murdered by Michael Manning while working at Barrington's Hospital. Manning is later tried and convicted of her murder becoming the last person to be publicly hanged in the Republic of Ireland.
1974	Dublin and Monaghan bombings	33	Dublin & Monaghan, Ireland	The Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 were a series of car bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in Ireland. The attacks killed 33 civilians and wounded almost 300 – the highest number of casualties in any one day during the conflict known as the Troubles. 26 were killed in Dublin, 7 in Monaghan. A loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) conspiring with the British Army, claimed responsibility for the bombings in 1993. No-one has ever been charged with the attacks.
1979	Murder of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Nicholas Knatchbull, Paul Maxwell & Doreen Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne	4	Mullaghmore, Co.Sligo	Lord Mountbatten, a British statesman and naval officer, an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and second cousin once removed to Elizabeth II was assassinated by the IRA. Nicholas Knatchbull, his elder daughter's 14-year-old son; and Paul Maxwell, a 15-year-old crew member were killed in the blast. The Dowager Lady Brabourne was seriously injured in the explosion and died from her injuries the following day. Nicholas Knatchbull's mother and father & twin brother Timothy were seriously injured. Thomas McMahon was convicted of murder & was released as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
1983	O'Connor's jewellery heist	-	Harolds Cross, Dublin, Ireland	Martin Cahill, a burglar and organized crime figure, leads a robbery against O'Connor's Jewelers successfully stealing $3,000,000 in jewelry.
1986	The Russborough House art robbery	-	County Wicklow, Ireland	Martin Cahill and his gang steal 18 paintings valued at $30,000,000 from the Russborough House in May 1986.
1996	Murder of Jerry McCabe	1	Adare, Co. Limerick, Ireland	Detective Garda Jerry McCabe was fatally shot by members of the Provisional IRA during an attempted robbery of a post office van. Pearse McAuley from Strabane and three County Limerick men – Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O'Neill and Kevin Walsh – were convicted by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of manslaughter.
1996	Murder of Tom Nevin	1	Brittas Bay, Co. Wicklow	Tom Nevin owner of Jack Whites Inn in Co. Wicklow was fatally shot dead on 19 March 1996. His wife, Catherine Nevin, was convicted of the murder.
1996	Murder of Veronica Guerin	1		Veronica Guerin, a journalist investigating Irish drug traffickers, is shot five times and killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle while stopped at an intersection outside Dublin. A massive investigation later resulted in the arrest of over 150 suspects before the eventual extradition of drug trafficker Brian Meehan who was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
2002	Murder of Brian Fitzgerald	1	Limerick, Ireland	Brian Fitzgerald, a nightclub bouncer from Limerick city was fatally shot at his Corbally home in the early hours of 29 November 2002 after returning home from work. Fitzgerald who had no connections to the notorious Limerick feud was murdered after he refused to allow drug dealers – connected to the McCarthy-Dundon gang - access to Doc’s nightclub in Limerick. James Martin Cahill who was paid €10,000 for the killing & Gary Campion were sentenced to life in prison.
2004	Murder of Rachel O'Reilly	1	Naul, Co. Dublin	Rachel O'Reilly, a 30-year-old mother of 2 was found fatally beaten in her Dublin home in 2004. Her husband Joe O'Reilly was convicted for the murder & is serving his sentence in Portlaoise Prison.
2006	Murder of Denis Donaldson	1	Classey, Glenties, Co. Donegal	Denis Donaldson, a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a member of Sinn Féin was murdered following his exposure in December 2005 as an informer of MI5 and the Special Branch of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. It was initially believed that the Provisional IRA were responsible for his killing although the Real IRA claimed responsibility for his murder almost three years later.
2007	Murder of Manuela Riedo	1	Galway, Ireland	Manuela Riedo, a 17-year-old student from Switzerland was murdered by Gerald Barry. The Swiss student had only arrived in Galway 3 days before she was murdered. Barry was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
2008	Murder of Shane Geoghegan	1	Limerick, Ireland	Shane Geoghegan, a 28-year-old Limerick native was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity. The murder coincided with an escalation in gangland violence between rival gangs in an ongoing Limerick feud. Twenty-three-year-old Barry Doyle from Portland Row, Dublin was charged with the murder and sentenced to life in prison. John Dundon from Limerick City, was also charged with the murder & sentenced to life in prison in 2012
2008	Operation Seabight	-	County Cork, Ireland	seizure of up to €750 million of cocaine off the West Cork coast in November 2008. A 60-foot (18 m) yacht containing more than seventy bales of the substance was seized by a team of European anti-drugs agencies led by the Irish authority forces. Three men were also apprehended and later each was sentenced to ten years in jail.
2009	Murder of Roy Collins	1	Limerick, Ireland	Roy Collins, a 35-year-old Limerick native was gunned down at the family owned business in April 2009. Collins who had no involvement in the ongoing Limerick feud was targeted after giving evidence against known Limerick criminals following an earlier incident. The murder prompted Roy's father, Steve to campaign for tougher laws to deal with gangland violence in Ireland. Wayne Dundon & Nathan Killeen, both from Limerick, have been charged with the murder. The Collins family have since fled Limerick under a witness protection programme.
2009	Bank of Ireland robbery	-	College Green branch of the Bank of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland	€7.6 million is stolen in a tiger kidnapping from a branch of the Bank of Ireland. So far seven people have been arrested and €4 million of the stolen money found scattered throughout Dublin.
2013	Murder of Adrian Donohoe	1	Bellurgan, Jenkinstown County Louth, Ireland	Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was fatally shot by an armed gang of five men during a robbery on a credit union while on duty. Donohoe & his colleague Detective Garda Joe Ryan were on a routine two-person cash escort on the evening of his murder. The suspects are believed to be part of a large criminal gang with links to illegal Republican paramilitary and terror organisations, operating in the border region. No charges have yet been brought, the investigation is ongoing.
2013	Murder of Jack & Tommy Blaine	2	Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland	Brothers Jack & Tommy Blaine, were found dead following a violent attack in their Castlebar home in July 2013. Twenty-six-year-old Alan Cawley was arrested & charged with the double murder.
2015	Murder of Tony Golden	2	Omeath, County Louth	A dissident republican shot a Garda and a civilian before shooting himself. He died along with the Garda.
2016	Regency Hotel shooting	1	Santry, Dublin	A gangland shooting. One person was killed, two wounded when gunmen disguised as Gardaí entered the Regency Hotel and opened fire.

Further reading

• Kerrigan, Gene. Hard Cases: True Stories of Irish Crime. Gill & Macmillan, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7171-3862-3

References

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