Posted by Updated / Monday, 16 Feb 2026 13:40
South East Correspondent
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.
‘Justice has been done’
Ms Funchion said she feels “justice has been done” following the decision.
She said she had experienced a “huge sense of relief” after Tyrell was sentenced last April but then found the appeal “devastating”.
“I felt a bit, I suppose, hopeless in all of it as well, and just a bit devastated,” she told reporters.
“So getting the sentence today in terms of it’s actually been increased, I just feel so much that justice has been done.
“I really hope it sends out a very strong message – first of all to other women in that situation, please do come forward, please talk. I know how hard it is. There are many days you doubt yourself and many days we think, what have I done here, this is never going to end.
“But we’ll never get the justice like you get when a judge is saying to you that this person is getting a custodial sentence. They’re going to jail, it’s what they deserve.”
Ms Funchion said she feels as though she can “finally” move on after living her life in a “kind of strange limbo”.
She said she hopes that today will provide closure.
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