The Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed a 74-year-old Galway man's appeal against his conviction for sexually abusing two young sisters on a regular basis during the 1960s and 1970s.

Galway Co Councillor Michael 'Stroke' Fahy walked free from the Four Courts today after the Court of Criminal Appeal set aside his conviction for fraud and attempted theft and ordered that a retrial take place.

A religious order tonight admitted that it failed to notify the Gardaí about abuse allegations against a priest who carried out a “reign of terror” in Newbridge College.

A Dominican priest who sexually assaulted a schoolboy in a “reign of terror “ at Newbridge College was today given a three-year suspended sentence.