IRELAND
Irish Times
A former secondary school chaplain cleared of accusations of having a sexual relationship with a student must pay 75 per cent of the legal costs of an unsuccessful bid to be restored to the chaplaincy position, the High Court ruled.
The priest was allowed return to the school to teach religion but not as school chaplain, following an investigation which found he had had an inappropriate but not sexual relationship with a girl in the secondary school between 2006 and 2007.
He had been accused of developing a close relationship with the girl which allegedly became sexual when she was in fifth year but broke down when she was in sixth year. It was claimed that sexual encounters occurred in the oratory of the priest’s office and in his house.
It was also alleged that the priest got the student drunk while on a pilgrimage abroad and she woke up the next morning in his bed.
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