Two men who hijacked a bus near Dublin Airport last year and crashing it in Co Monaghan have been jailed.
Cousins 26 year old Stephen McDonagh and 27 year old John McDonagh, both with addresses of The Steeples, Navan, Co Meath , appeared at Cavan Curcuit Court today.
Both men were arrested on January 8th of last year after they stole a hotel minibus at Dublin airport, which had three tourists on board.
They travelled up the M1 motorway, before dropping the passengers off close to the CityNorth hotel in Julianstown.
The cousins then travelled over the border into Armagh, before crossing back into the Republic near Castleblayney.
They then stole a second car in Broomfield.
During the almost two hour long pursuit, two garda vehicles and a PSNI vehicle were rammed causing thousands of euro of damage.
Stephen McDonagh had previously pleaded guilty to six charges, one of unlawfully taking the minibus from outside Terminal 2, three of falsely imprisoning passengers on the bus, one of reckless endangerment and one of taking a vehicle at an address in Broomfield, Co Monaghan.
John McDonagh pleaded guilty to five charges, three for false imprisonment, and two of knowingly being a passenger in a stolen vehicle.
Judge John Aylmer today sentenced John McDonagh to four years imprisonment for each of the three charges of false imprisonment, four years for knowingly being a passenger in a stolen bus, and two and a half years for being carried in the stolen car.
Stephen McDonagh was sentenced to four years for unlawful taking of a bus, four years for false imprisonment, five years for the reckless endangerment of a garda and two and a half years for the taking of the vehicle in Broomfield.
All of the sentences will run concurrently and all are back dated to January 8th 2020 when both men entered custody.
