Tag Archives: Terenure College

Damien Hetherington outside the Central Criminal Court last week after the sentencing of paedophile rugby coach John McClean. Damien was abused by McClean in 1973 at Terenure College when he was 12-years-old

Yesterday.

Good times.

Previously: Moved To Another Parish

John McClean abused 27 boys between 1973 and 1990 while he worked for Terenure College.

Yesterday

At the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

During rugby coach John McClean’s sentencing hearing, it was revealed that he admitted to one of the allegations of sexual abuse in 1996.

He left Terenure College in 1996 after certain allegations were made and took up a role coaching rugby with UCD [Director of the college’s Rugby Academy].

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told that when this allegation arose in 1996, McClean had meetings with Father Robert Kelly, the then Provincial of the Carmelite Order in Ireland, and during one of these meetings McClean admitted to the allegation.

The court heard the first complaint to gardaí ­ in the case was made in 2016.

When providing gardaí­ with notes of this meeting during the investigation into these offences, Fr Kelly said he had no recollection of this, but that if it was in the notes then “it was true”.

Former Terenure teacher admitted sex abuse 20 years before Garda inquiry (Irish Times)

Wednesday:‘The School Principal Was Told About The Abuse In 1979, But Did Not Accept The Allegations Were True’

RollingNews

From top: Terenure College; John McClean

This afternoon.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court

Details of the abuse of children at Terenure College over a period of 27 years were outlined the ahead of the sentencing of rugby coach John McClean.

Via RTÉ News:

The 76-year-old is a former rugby coach and English teacher. He was also involved in fitting costumes on boys for school plays.

He abused nine victims in an office, eight during preparation for the school plays, three during sporting activities and three in the classroom.

The court also heard today that a school principal had been told about the abuse in 1979, but did not accept the allegations were true.

The details of what McClean did to six of the boys has so far been outlined in court.

The court heard they were 12, 13, 14 and 15 years of age at the time.

In their victim impact statements, the boys, who are now men in their 50s, spoke of how the abuse damaged their lives.

One said he can never forget it, while another spoke of subsequent failures in relationships with women.

Some told how they left the school early, did not complete State examinations and were deprived of an education in life.

Former Terenure College teacher abused boys in office, class, during sport and before plays (RTÉ)

Previously: Guilty

John McClean

This morning.

John McClean, a former Director of the Rugby Academy at UCD, has pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting 23 schoolboys at Terenure College in the 1970s and 80s.

John McClean, 73,  was an English and drama teacher, who also coached rugby at the school. He took up the position as director of rugby in UCD in the 1990s.

The charges were prompted by a 2018 article from Gemma O’Doherty, who spoke to a number of Mr McClean’s victims in Village magazine.Her report claimed some gardai were aware of allegations against Mr McClean for decades.

Former rugby coach John McClean pleads guilty to indecent assault of 23 schoolboys (RTÉ)

Previously: John McClean on Broadsheet

Terenure College, Dublin

In The Village magazine.

Gemma O’Doherty reports that several former pupils of Terenue College have come forward claiming they were sexually and physically abused in the 1960s and 1970s.

Ms O’Doherty writes:

Terenure College is one of a growing number of fee-paying Irish schools who may have to confront decades-old abuse in the coming years, as survivors gain the courage to come forward and seek redress and compensation.

The financial implications for private colleges which find themselves exposed to historic claims could prove catastrophic. Some may face the prospect of having to sell off valuable chunks of their campus or even closure.

But many victims believe the time has come to blow the whistle, regardless of the consequences.

They say their ‘alma maters’ should no longer be allowed to hide from the dark secrets of their past, which have shattered so many lives.

[One said:] “As a survivor of the violence and sexual abuse at Terenure, it saddens me to think that success on the rugby pitch was put ahead of child protection.

“When past pupils admire with pride the trophy cabinet in the college containing the Leinster Schools cups, they should be aware that they were won at the expense of innocent boys whose lives were destroyed by perverts disguised in brown Carmelite habits and grey suits.

“A few bad apples in the barrel yes, but nobody ever cast them out. Why not? The public, who subsidise private schools, have a right to know what happened. We can’t keep brushing abuse scandals under the carpet.“

Terror ‘Nure: Horrific physical and sexual violence was permitted, mostly by priests, in one of Dublin’s top private schools, though the Carmelite Order, led by Fr Richard Byrne, won’t say what it did to stop it, and if it alerted the Garda (Gemma O’Doherty, The Village)