The ex-partner of Sinn Féin MEP Kathleen Funchion has had his sentence increased by one month for offences against her under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act.
Sean Tyrrell (39), of Cypress Grove, Co Kilkenny, previously pleaded guilty to the offences which date to August 2022, when Funchion was a TD for Carlow/Kilkenny.
At Kilkenny District Court last April, Tyrrell was given a four-month custodial sentence, with a separate four-month sentence suspended for two years.
He appealed the severity of the sentence to Kilkenny Circuit Court.
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David Roberts, barrister for the defendant, told the Circuit Court a probation report was “detailed and lengthy” and was not positive towards Tyrrell. While it noted his attendance at probation meetings, it set out concerning issues relating to the likelihood of reoffending.
Roberts said the findings would have been guided by the probation officer’s interactions with Tyrrell and they must have been of a negative nature, given the report’s findings.
The court was told Tyrrell was working as a blocklayer in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and had been residing with his employer.
Roberts said the accused has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse which has affected decision making on various occasions.
Judge Robert Quinn said Tyrrell’s actions were of huge concern to Funchion’s professional and personal life. There was a breach of trust in his relationship with Funchion and the probation report has not helped his case.
Quinn said a custodial sentence was “warranted and inevitable”, before he increased the custodial element from four months to five months. The judge also increased the suspended sentence from four months to five months.
Following the resentencing, Ireland South MEP Funchion called for more Garda resources and trauma-informed training within the courts system.
Speaking to RTÉ, she spoke of her relief following the conclusion of the court case, which she said she found “very difficult”.
The court had heard during the initial proceedings that over the course of a tumultuous six-year relationship, Tyrrell exercised coercive and controlling behaviour over Funchion, including checking her messages, demanding her phone, and accusing her of having an affair when there was no basis for having such suspicions.
“I really do think that I got the justice, I really feel strongly about that, that the judge really had listened and when he said that this warrants a custodial sentence, I really felt vindicated,” she said on Monday.
“I really hope that this will send a message to other women to not give up and to not lose hope because it is such a long process and … you’ve got many moments in that process where it’s very isolating, it’s very lonely, but you also just feel is this ever going to be over," she said.
The experience of reporting the crime and the subsequent Garda investigation, trial and appeal took 3½ years, she said.
“You really do doubt and question yourself at times as to did you do the right thing, but there is nothing like the sense of justice you will feel when a judge is saying back that this person really wronged you and deserves to go to jail for that.“
She encouraged other women in similar situations to recognise the signs within their relationships.
“Controlling behaviour is something that is very subtle and it creeps in over time.
“It’s not like you wake up one morning and you notice the difference. What a person does in that situation is they make you really doubt yourself, they make you question yourself, they totally affect your confidence and your self-esteem, so that you believe that you’re the person in the wrong,” she said.
Funchion praised domestic abuse shelters and Women’s Aid, encouraging people to contact such services and outlining that the advice given would be supportive and non-judgemental.
She also praised the “phenomenal” work of the protective services gardaí in Kilkenny who investigated her case, saying there was a need for “far more resources” for such units.
She added that there was need for greater resourcing within the Director of Public Prosecutions, as well as for “trauma informed training” for everyone involved in cases, including the judiciary.
“Sometimes that whole system, and I don’t really think it’s anybody’s fault as such, but it can be a very cold and heartless system. It’s so nerve wracking walking into that courtroom, and you literally feel physically sick and you feel like your heart is going to burst out of your chest because your so anxious.”
