Former teacher accused of abusing students seeks to block trial

A retired teacher who denies allegations that he sexually abused pupils at the primary school where he worked has secured the permission go the High Court to bring a legal challenge aimed at preventing his criminal prosecution.

The teacher, who is now aged his late 70s, is facing charges including more than 60 counts of indecently assaulting almost a dozen different female students in or around the west of Ireland national school he taught at over a period ranging from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s.