John McClean jailed for sexual abuse of boys at Terenure

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

John McClean was sentenced to four years in prison on 24 February 2023 for the sexual abuse of 22 boys. Judge Martin Nolan ordered the sentence to run consecutively to an existing eight-year sentence, beginning when that term is served in February 2027.

In January 2023, McClean affirmed guilty pleas to four counts of indecent assault relating to two boys during the 1980s. He also pleaded guilty to a further 23 counts of abusing 20 boys at Terenure College between 1971 and 1992.

The report said most of the charges were indecent assault and two were sexual assault. McClean had appeared at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 23 February 2023, when he was arraigned on the further 23 counts.

Judge Nolan said there were 22 complainants and that McClean had used his position as a teacher to gratify his own needs. He considered McClean’s guilty pleas, expression of remorse, age and existing sentence among the mitigating factors. The judge said he would have imposed a longer sentence if McClean had not already been serving a substantial term.

The existing eight-year sentence was handed down in 2021 for abusing 23 pupils at the school. Judge Nolan said McClean would serve 12 years in total.