John McClean’s sentence for sexually abusing 22 pupils reduced

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

John McClean’s sentence for sexually abusing 22 pupils was reduced by the Court of Appeal to a global 10-and-a-half-year term on 4 July 2024.

McClean had received an eight-year sentence in 2021 for abusing 23 pupils at Terenure College, followed by a four-year consecutive sentence in February 2023 for abusing 22 more. The appeal court quashed the later sentence and resentenced him for all 45 offences.

The court said the original sentencing approach treated offences as equally serious and imposed disproportionately high sentences for some individual offences. It described the offending as predatory and the harm to victims as long-lasting.