Best Irish crime movies

When a small-town Irish cop with a crass personality is partnered with a straight-laced FBI agent to bust an international drug-trafficking ring, they must settle their differences in order to take down a dangerous gang.

In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the bottom with addicts, Guerin then gets in touch with John Traynor, a paranoid informant. Not without some prodding, Traynor leads her to John Gilligan, the ruthless head of the operation, who does not take kindly to Guerin's nosing.

In darkest rural Ireland, ex-boxer Douglas 'Arm' Armstrong has become the feared enforcer for the drug-dealing Devers family, whilst also trying to be a good father to his autistic five-year-old son, Jack. Torn between these two families, Arm's loyalties are truly tested when he is asked to kill for the first time.

Overwhelmed by grief following the death of his wife, Donnelly shares a train carriage home with a troubled young man identified only as the 'Kid'. As the Kid becomes more agitated and foul-mouthed, the journey takes on a violent and dangerous hue – for the bereaved Donnelly and for other hapless passengers on the train. Academy Award Winner: Best Live Action Short Film – 2005

A raucous story of the interweaving lives and loves of small-town delinquents, shady cops, pretty good girls and very bad boys. With Irish guts and grit, lives collide, preconceptions shatter and romance is tested to the extreme. An ill-timed and poorly executed couple's break-up sets off a chain of events affecting everyone in town.

A gangster named Perrier looks to exact his revenge on a trio of fugitives responsible for the accidental death of one of his cronies.

12-year-old Mully has lost his mother and discovers his debt-ridden father stealing the charity money they've raised in her name. Grabbing the cash, Mully steals a taxi and is shocked to find a woman, Joy, in the back seat with a baby. A straight-talking solicitor who didn't expect to get pregnant, Joy is struggling with motherhood and planning to give her baby to a friend who will raise the child as her own. She joins Mully on a wild journey across Ireland, stealing cars, hitch-hiking, catching ferries and breaking police barricades.

A group of young Cardboard Gangsters attempt to gain control of the drug trade in Darndale, chasing the glorified lifestyle of money, power and sex.

Two ten year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler.

Ritchie Donovan is a professional thief whose luck has just run out. The only survivor from a heist that goes terribly wrong, Ritchie is forced to take the rap and is sent to Russia to steal a priceless antique cross locked in a safe on the penthouse floor of a Moscow skyscraper.

Val Barber, a private investigator, is hired by a wealthy widow to find her missing granddaughter. Set in Dublin against the background of a global pandemic, Barber’s initial investigation into Sara’s disappearance quickly darkens. Secrets start surfacing in unexpected ways. Before too long, Barber finds himself entangled with powerful men of shady morals determined to thwart his investigation. Has he bitten off more than he can chew?

Pig and Runt born on the same day, in the same hospital, moments apart. Twins, all but by bloodline. Inseparable from birth, they are almost telepathic. They are one, needing no one else, inhabiting a delicate, insular and dangerous world where they make their own rules and have their own language. But days before their 17th birthday the balance of their world begins to shift. Pig's sexual awakening and jealousy begins to threaten their private universe.

Fresh out of prison, Git rescues a former best friend (now living with Git's girlfriend) from a beating at the hands of loan sharks. He's now in trouble with the mob boss, Tom French, who sends Git to Cork with another debtor, Bunny Kelly, to find a guy named Frank Grogan, and take him to a man with a friendly face at a shack across a bog. It's a tougher assignment than it seems: Git's a novice, Bunny's prone to rash acts, Frank doesn't want to be found (and once he's found, he has no money), and maybe Tom's planning to murder Frank, which puts Git in a moral dilemma. Then, there's the long-ago disappearance of Sonny Mulligan. What's a decent and stand-up lad to do?

Troubled secret agent "Blackbird" abruptly retires from service and opens a luxurious nightclub in the Caribbean to escape the dark shadows of his past. An old flame arrives and reignites love in his life but she brings danger with her.

On the streets of Dublin, Danny, a homeless man grappling with the ghosts of his past, finds himself caught in a cycle of despair and survival. Haunted by memories of his time serving in the Royal Irish Army, Danny's life takes a turn when he encounters Will, a young teenager on the run from a dangerous drug gang.

Jo is a black-market medic who carries out illegal operations for the criminal underworld. When she gives refuge to a young girl, she must choose between breaking her medical oath or crossing her ruthless employers.

Meet big-time crime boss Val Fagan, the leader of a brutal, cold-blooded gang who run the streets of Dublin. After a major armed robbery gets national attention, Val and his gang become the main targets of the Garda detectives - who will go to any length to disrupt his operation and bring him down.

After a chance encounter, a Dubliner is stalked by a murderous facsimile of himself.

An exploration of masculinity and violence. A story of obsession and revenge, as a man tries to come to terms with a brutal, random attack and its consequences.

Young Oksana puts her newly born Denis in a baby box. Sixteen years later she steals him away from a children's home, intent on making amends for her maternal neglect, and to exploit him to earn money in a corrupt legal system.

‘Mary Boyle: The Untold Story’ reveals shocking new evidence about the case of Ireland’s youngest and longest missing person. Mary was six years old when she vanished on her grandparents’ remote farm in Donegal in March 1977 while in the company of her uncle Gerry Gallagher. The documentary contains disturbing allegations by a number of retired senior police officers that a local politician interfered in the case, ordering that the chief suspect not be arrested. He never has been and still lives in Donegal today. The documentary, written and directed by Gemma O’Doherty, has won several international awards and has been viewed almost 1 million times on YouTube. It led to public outcry in Ireland with marches and vigils held around the country demanding justice for Mary. A new police review of the case was ordered within days of the film’s release but the suspect remains at large and Mary’s body has yet to be returned to her identical twin sister Ann for burial.

When a courier at the D-Day Courier Service mistakenly finds a pile of money in his regular delivery, he does some digging only to discover that the messenger company is a front for a drug ring. A reformed drug user himself, he sets out to crack the lethal ring.

A gang of desperate criminals seek refuge in what appears to be a perfectly ordinary house - but discover it houses something much more sinister, and much more otherworldly, than they'd initially thought...

Two down-and-outs bonded together in misfortune devise a plan to rob a small town amusement arcade.

While William Bulger rises to the top of the political world, the FBI starts a push to find one of their most-wanted fugitives, his brother James "Whitey" Bulger.

Criminal Martin Cahill gets in trouble when a major robbery succeeds. He aims for more trouble when he tries to do a large art robbery

Out of prison at last, charismatic sociopath Neal tries to visit the baby son he's never seen, his indifferent parents, and the grave of his horse - not in that order. But mainly he wants to rejoin his old gang in the "pony club" subculture of the wild Northside- would be urban cowboys riding horses rough shod and bare back through the streets of Dublin. He then runs into the squealer who set him up.

A poitín (moonshine) maker attempts to avoid the attentions of the Gardaí (police) in Connemara in the west of Ireland.

Two friends turn on each other after discovering a rare artefact beneath a sacred shrine, and must hone their respective skills if they are to fight one another to the death in hopes of claiming it.

A troubled teenage sharpshooter decides to avenge the death of her estranged sister after she is found murdered in a public bathroom.

Two young Dublin brothers must navigate loyalty, honour and the dangerous world of republicanism as they fuel the Northern war machine - by any means necessary.

A group of criminals lay low in the remote Irish countryside after pulling off an audacious robbery. As they plan their escape they quickly realise the robbery will be the last thing to go right for them.

Twig dreams of escape from a divided Dublin. Her brother's gangland feud traps the people in a culture of fear, surveillance and containment. When tragedy strikes, Twig seeks to do the right thing, stand up to King Leon and face her fate.

The good name of a seemingly regular rabbit falls victim to an unstoppable tide of disinformation.

A gang of sharp witted street kids save Sherlock Holmes from an accusation of murder and to help foil an audacious robbery.

Trojan Eddie sells stolen goods for John Power, aging godfather of a local network of Irish gypsies, known as "travelers." Having done time rather than inform on his partner in a failed burglary, Eddie now struggles to raise his two daughters alone. Power falls for and marries traveler girl Kathleen, but when she runs off with Power's nephew Dermot — and takes the $11,000 dowry with her — Eddie must track the couple down.

A young Dublin woman is stalked by a telephone charmer who poses victims nude and then stabs them.

Two Dubs, Sean and Ger, get wind of the proverbial pot of gold and what should be a straight-forward job becomes a fiasco. But, there's an old Irish saying - "Filleann an feall ar an bhfeallaire - What goes around comes around".

Comerford’s signature sharp realism infuses this drama about Reefer, an ex-IRA man who picks up hitch-hiker Teresa, a pregnant woman trying to overcome a drug addiction. They head to the trawler where he lives with friends Spider and Badger, that operates between Galway and the Aran Islands. The makeshift family are forced to turn to crime to make a living.

The Tale of Billy O'C is a psychological crime thriller strongly focused on an unpredictable plot with twists keeping the audience wanting to know what happens next. It's a story of vilification, family dedication, redemption and a desire for peace. Set in a small village in County Kilkenny, Ireland in 1975, it unfolds with a backdrop of an IRA safehouse and small-town politics.

Headrush is a crime comedy about two disillusioned youths, struggling through a haze of cannabis, who hope to solve all their problems by smuggling a consignement of drugs for a local gangster. It's set in the present day in Dublin, Ireland against the backdrop of the end of the Celtic Tiger: the bursting of the bubble of this economy boom that's supposed to have done wonders for us all.

Former State Pathologist, Dr. Marie Cassidy leads a brand new investigation into the killing of revolutionary, soldier and politician Michael Collins in August 1922, an event that ignited acrimonious arguments that have endured ever since.

In this gripping sequel to ‘Dolly Gets Fried’ (2020), Dolly intercepts the TV signal to reveal some mysterious and frightening information.

A frustrated shopkeeper's quick thinking helps him get the upper hand in battling a shoplifting epidemic.

A brutal murder leads to an investigation that uncovers a hidden secret. The clock is ticking for what may be a tragic end. "1902" is a silent short story of forbidden love, blind justice, and betrayal.

A drifter is picked up by police in connection with the disappearance of a young couple on a remote, windswept island months before. But the drifter turns the table on their investigation and relates a tale of madness and the supernatural.

In a post pandemic world, an acclaimed writer from Northern Ireland struggles to leave his home and find meaning in his work while his therapist helps him uncover his true self. Does she have something to do with his disappearance ?

A New York cop, Dan Horowitz, arrives in Dublin to pay respects to the Irish parents of his young wife who had recently died. He suddenly finds himself called upon by the police to help solve a recent murder case. A character driven comedy-suspense feature entertainment, starring Harvey Lembeck, Sinead Cusack, Al Lettieri, Cesare Danova and Cyril Cusack.