A former Dublin priest has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for abusing three young boys in the 1970s and 1980s.
The final four years of the sentence were suspended.
Tony Walsh was convicted by a jury at the Dublin Circuit Criminal
Court last month of indecently assaulting and raping a boy over five
years when his victim was between seven and 12 years old.
Walsh, who was a member of the All Priests Show, last week pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting two other boys.
Judge Frank O'Donnell imposed prison sentences ranging from four
years for indecent assault to 16 years for the most serious offence.
The
sentences will run concurrently.
Walsh's senior counsel, David Keane, said he had been instructed to
ask for leave to appeal the conviction and sentence in relation to the
offences for which Walsh was found guilty by the jury.
Leave to appeal was refused.
Following the sentencing, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin issued a
statement saying he hoped that 'the finality of the legal process will
help bring them some sense of justice, of healing, of closure and hope
for the future'.
'I can only unreservedly apologise to the victims of this man for
what they endured and for the way in which the diocese failed them.'
SIC: RTÉ/IE