Daily Mass-going paedophile school principal Patrick Barry has been released from prison back into the community in west Clare after serving only 18 months in jail.

A former primary school principal, now aged 81, has moved to appeal his prison sentence for indecently assaulting 11 women while they were pupils of his in the school in west Clare.

Houses in Douglas and Togher in Cork are being targeted by burglars, a garda said yesterday as a Dubliner pleaded guilty to having house-breaking equipment.