KINAHAN cartel stooge Michael Crotty enjoyed trips to the seaside just a year after he was caged for his role in the killing of grandad Noel Kirwan.
And we can reveal the former gym owner, 42, has also received permission to visit Co Leitrim later this month.
His visit to Leitrim was granted after he enjoyed day release trips to Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal, from Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.
During his trips to Donegal, he was escorted before being brought back to Mountjoy.
He spent his days relaxing at the beach and enjoying ice creams.
Crotty enjoyed the trips to the north west just a year after he received his two-year sentence in May 2024.
Crotty’s treatment by the Irish Prison Service has angered Mr Kirwan’s family.
A relative told us: “How can an individual who supplied a phone used in the death of a completely innocent man be allowed to enjoy such freedoms.
“This isn’t a punishment or justice — it’s a disgrace.
“He has never shown any remorse for his involvement — and yet here he is enjoying nice trips to the seaside.”
As part of our revelations on the cartel facilitator, we can also reveal that he spent four nights away from prison in his home town of Cashel, Co Tipperary, last month.
His nights away from Mountjoy were between May 1 and 5, before he was out again from May 10 to 14.
Mr Kirwan’s relative added: “Crotty isn’t just getting trips to the seaside — he’s getting to stay out of prison for four nights at a time.
“It’s like they’re allowing him to go on holiday when he’s meant to be serving a prison sentence.
“He received a two-year sentence so he should be staying those two years in prison.”
WHO IS BEHIND KINAHAN CARTEL?
Christy Kinahan Sr began preying on Dublin’s vulnerable drug users at the height of the city’s heroin epidemic in the 1980s.
His early efforts came to a sudden halt when he was arrested in September 1986, and was slapped with a relatively-lean six-year jail sentence in 1987.
But prison wouldn’t stop him from working to expand his now-€1billion empire.
He was one of the first Irish prisoners to get his own computer — and used it to brush up on the skills that would make him one of the world’s deadliest narco-terrorists.
Now, his son Daniel has stepped into his shoes as the top dog of the cartel, while also attempting to forge a legitimate career in boxing.
Today, his sons and their cronies continue to evade the US’ DEA, An Garda Siochana, Interpol and a number of other police services globally.
The ruthless Kinahan family has dominated gangland crime in Ireland and across Europe for years.
But the shocking attack at Dublin’s Regency Hotel in 2016 and a murderous feud that resulted in 18 killings thrust them into the global spotlight.
And the sheer scale of their criminal empire was laid bare in April 2022 when the US government announced a $5million bounty for information leading to the arrests of the heads of the Kinahan cartel — Christy and his sons Daniel and Christy Jr.
Gardai believe Crotty — who was under the Garda radar — was targeted by the Kinahan gang because members used his gym in 2016.
The cartel figures he aided were travelling to Co Tipperary in the middle of the Kinahan and Hutch feud.
Cops suspect Crotty was offered cash to support them in their criminal enterprises.
One source added: “Crotty was nothing more than a gopher used by the cartel.
“He was one of many who were simply expendable to Daniel Kinahan.”
Others convicted for the roles they played included Declan ‘Mr Nobody’ Brady, Jason Keating and Martin Aylmer.
