Paul Kennedy settles abuse action against John McClean

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

Paul Kennedy settled a High Court action over historical sexual abuse by former Terenure College teacher John McClean. On 6 October 2026, Kennedy’s barrister told Judge Tony O’Connor that the case had been settled following mediation.

Kennedy sued McClean, the school’s board and the Carmelites, the religious order that runs the school. The settlement amount was undisclosed. The judge struck out the action against McClean with no order for legal costs, and struck it out against the board and a representative of the Carmelites, with an order for Kennedy’s costs against them. Other High Court actions against McClean remain live.

The court had previously heard that Kennedy’s case arose from sustained sexual abuse from the 1970s to the 1980s. McClean has been convicted at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of abusing 49 boys at Terenure College and remains in prison.

In earlier criminal proceedings, McClean pleaded guilty to 27 charges of indecently assaulting and sexually abusing 23 boys. In 2021, Judge Pauline Codd imposed an 11-year sentence with three years suspended.

On 16 December 2022, McClean was sent forward for sentencing on signed guilty pleas to four counts of indecent assault. On 21 February 2023, he pleaded guilty to a further 21 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault. Judge Martin Nolan sentenced him on 24 February 2023 to four years in prison consecutive to the effective eight-year term he was already serving.

On 4 July 2024, the Court of Appeal allowed McClean’s appeal against the severity of the four-year sentence. It replaced it with a consecutive sentence of two and a half years, producing an effective overall sentence of ten and a half years for offences against 45 victims.

This case may have concluded differently. The outcome has not yet been confirmed by a public source we could find.