Terenure College to face legal claims from abused past pupils

Terenure College and the Carmelite order are set to face legal claims from past pupils who were sexually abused by former teacher and rugby coach John McClean.

McClean (76) of Casimir Avenue, Harold's Cross, Dublin, was sentenced to eight years in prison, after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting 23 pupils at Terenure College between 1973 and 1990.

Seven civil lawsuits have already been filed by men abused by McClean, the majority of which list the south Dublin fee-paying school and Carmelite order who run it, as defendants, court records show.

The school and religious order would be facing costs well in excess of €1 million over the past abuse, between settlements and legal fees, said legal sources. The bill could rise higher, they say, and more names could come forward.

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Sentencing McClean, Judge Pauline Codd said he exploited his position as a teacher and coach at the school, in an "egregious breach of trust and an abuse of power".

McClean was also head coach of the Leinster Schools team for a number of years in the mid-1990s, and assistant coach of the Ireland Schools team during a tour of Australia in the summer of 1996.

Removed as a teacher

McClean travelled on the schoolboy team’s Australian tour despite the father of one of his victims reporting the abuse to Terenure College earlier that summer, according to a source familiar with the Garda investigation.

He was removed as a teacher later that summer after admitting to the abuse, and took up a role as director of rugby in University College Dublin.

In a statement, Terenure College and the Carmelite order apologised “unreservedly to the victims and survivors.”

“We understand that words of apology are never adequate when people have experienced so much pain and suffering over many years. These men were entrusted to our care when starting out in life – young boys full of hope, promise and joy,” it said.

“They had that hope and promise cruelly taken from them as a result of the sexual abuse perpetrated upon them by John McClean. Terenure College and the Carmelite Order failed in their duty to protect them and for this we are truly sorry,” it added.