A man who previously received a four-month prison sentence for offences under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act against his former partner - now a Sinn Féin MEP - has had his sentence increased on appeal.
Seán Tyrrell of Cypress Grove, Loughboy, Kilkenny, was previously given a four-month custodial sentence, with a separate four-month jail term suspended for two years, for offences under the legislation, which is also known as Coco's Law.
The 39-year-old previously pleaded guilty to the offences which relate to August 2022, when Kathleen Funchion was a TD for the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency.
Last April, before Kilkenny District Court, he was given a four-month custodial sentence, with a separate four-month jail term suspended for two years. However, he took a severity-only appeal before Kilkenny Circuit Court.
Judge Cormac Quinn today increased the previous custodial sentence handed down to Tyrrell to one of five months.
The judge also increased the suspended sentence Tyrrell previously received from four months to five months.
This second sentence was again suspended in full for a period of two years from today on condition that the accused be of good behaviour and not communicate with or about Ms Funchion.
Judge Quinn said Tyrrell had threatened to expose embarrassing allegations by electronic means about Ms Funchion.
The judge said all of these allegations were unfounded and untrue and the offending had caused Ms Funchion enormous distress in both her personal and professional life.
Judge Quinn said, as a result, a custodial sentence was warranted and inevitable.
'Huge sense of relief'
Ms Funchion said she was relieved at today's outcome.
Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, she said she had felt last April that she had finally come to the end, but was then "dragged back through the appeals process".
"It was really difficult to take, that it was ongoing. To have the sentence increased today, I really feel a huge sense of relief again," she told the programme.
"To actually physically see that he has gone to prison - because he hadn't gone to prison before, he hadn't served any of the time because it had been appealed.
"I really feel I got justice. I feel the judge listened. I feel vindicated."
Ms Funchion said she hopes today's decision will send a message to other women to not give up or lose hope.
She said there are isolating and lonely moments, adding that "you really do doubt and question yourself as to whether you did the right thing".
She said there is a sense of justice when a judge recognises that a person "really wronged you and deserves to go to jail".
"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 self esteem, so that you believe you are the person that's in the wrong," Ms Funchion said.
"I really took solace from hearing other women's stories when they came out and spoke about it ... I would encourage women to seek support."
