The mother of hit-and-run victim Joe Drennan has said her family is "very unhappy" with the sentence handed down to his killer at Limerick Circuit Court last week.
Mr Drennan, 21, who was a fourth-year journalism student and editor of the student newspaper Limerick Voice was killed in a hit-and-run incident in October 2023, as he stood at a bus stop near the university.
The driver of the car Kieran Fogarty, also 21, of Ballinacurra Weston in Limerick city, was jailed last week at Limerick Circuit Court after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Drennan, and failing to offer any assistance to the student as he lay dying under the accused man's car.
The sentence is to run concurrently with an eight-year sentence also imposed on Fogarty for a number of firearms offences, including a drive-by shooting in which he fired a number of shots into a house.
Both crimes were committed while he was on bail and banned from driving.
Joe's mother Marguerite Drennan said her son had "absolutely nothing to do with criminality and it is just such a kick in the teeth for him to be mixed up in it when he's dead".
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, she said: "The sentence is not justice, no way, no, not justice at all."
"He [Fogarty] needs to serve time for Joe, absolutely... and we're fighting, we really are fighting... he [Joe] should be here," she said.
She is calling for the sentence imposed on his killer to be reviewed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Last week, the family said the concurrent sentences effectively mean he will serve the longer sentence for the drive-by shooting incident and no extra time for killing their son, and that the sentences should run consecutively.
They have written to the DPP to review the sentence imposed and have begun a 'Justice for Joe’ campaign, as well as initiating a public petition seeking signatures and support from across the country to try and get the sentence appealed.
This afternoon, hundreds of people gathered at the University of Limerick in a show of solidarity with Joe Drennan's family.
Friends of his from UL, as well as teachers and lecturers from the university and members of the Castletroy neighbourhood, gathered at the plaza in UL to offer their support to the Drennan family and to add their voices to the call for an appeal.
Ellie McCarthy, along with Síofra Grant, both friends of Joe from UL, and now working journalists in both Longford and Limerick, said Joe was always a voice for the voiceless, and that they are his voice now, and they do not want his case to fade into the background.
Student Life President Ronan Cahill said Joe had left a lasting legacy for all students and they were fully supportive of the Drennan family in seeking an appeal to the sentence imposed on his killer.
Dr Kathryn Hayes, who is BA course director at UL's journalism department, said it has been a very difficult journey to Limerick many times for the Drennan family but that Joe had had an enormous impact on the many lives that he touched, and hundreds of students, teachers and the wider community in Plassey and Castletroy wanted to show their solidarity with his family in their plea for a review.
Sarah Drennan, sister of Joe, said they are writing to the DPP and are in contact with the office by phone to make their case for an appeal. She said they do not believe concurrent sentences are appropriate in cases where there has been a fatality.
The DPP does not comment on individual cases but has 28 days in which to lodge an appeal to the Court of Appeal to review a sentence, and up to a maximum of 56 days if more time is warranted.
A victim and a family member of a victim is entitled to write to the DPP requesting such a review.
