Key 'Kinahan Cartel figure' Sean McGovern remanded in custody after court appearance after being extradited from Dubai to Ireland

Senior alleged Kinahan gang member Sean McGovern has appeared before Dublin's Special Criminal Court charged with murdering a grandfather more than eight years ago after being extradited from Dubai.

The 39-year-old was last night (May 29 2025) charged with directing a criminal organisation involved in the conspiracy to murder Noel Kirwan after landing on a military plane at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnell, west Dublin, on a flight from the United Arab Emirates.

A major police security operation was in place for McGovern at the court with armed police involved.

He is accused of the murder of Mr Kirwan, 62, at St Ronan’s Drive in Clondalkin, Dublin, on December 22, 2016.

The alleged offences are said to be part of a feud between Kinahan cartel and rival feud which claimed up to 18 lives both in Ireland and abroad.

Mr Kirwan was an innocent party not who is believed to have been targeted after he was seen next to leading Hutch figure, Gerry "The Monk" Hutch at a funeral.

McGovern is also accused of directing the activities of a criminal organisation in relation to Mr Kirwan’s murder from October 20 to December 22, 2016 and with enhancing the abilities of a crime gang to carry out that murder between the same dates.

He faces two other charges relating to a plot to murder James "Mago" Gately, an associate of the Hutch gang.

He is charged with directing a crime gang to carry out surveillance on Gately, and facilitating a criminal organisation relating to the conspiracy to murder him between October 17, 2015, and April 6, 2017.

Ms Justice Karen O’Connor remanded McGovern in custody and he is due to appear before the court again on June 5.

McGovern is separately alleged to be the "right-hand man" of Daniel Kinahan, 47, who is still in Dubai with father Christy "Dapper Don" Kinahan, 67, and brother Christopher Kinahan Junior, 44.

McGovern is reported to be the first person to be extradited from the United Arab Emirates to Ireland.

He was in custody for over seven months after he was arrested in October 2024.

Officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau flew to Dubai this week to accompany him back.

A European Arrest Warrant was issued for McGovern's arrest in April 2022 as was an Interpol red notice, a request to law enforcement worldwide to provisionally arrest a person pending extradition.

It was at the same time as the US Treasury announced sanctions on the leaders of the cartel, including on the three Kinahan men seen as the cartel's alleged leaders.

The US Treasury at the time said: "McGovern is Daniel Kinahan’s advisor and closest confidant, and evidence indicates that all dealings with Daniel Kinahan go through Sean McGovern.

"Sean McGovern also has managed communications on behalf of Daniel Kinahan, and he sells multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine."

His extradition will lead to speculation that Ireland will go on to seek the extradition of the Kinahans themselves.

A Garda spokesperson said: "An Garda Síochána has developed major international partnerships in our efforts to target transnational organised crime groups.

"Our relationship with authorities across the world including with the Ministry of Justice at judicial level in the United Arab Emirates, and on a police-to-police basis, is valued and one which we will continue to develop. This relationship has been supported by Irish governmental and diplomatic efforts”.