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, writes Gordon Deegan.

Described by one of his 11 victims in court as “a vicious wolf lying in wait” to abuse children who came to Moyasta NS, the 82-year-old was initially sentenced at Ennis Circuit Court to 11 years with five of those suspended in November 2014.

However, at the Court of Criminal Appeal last May, this was reduced to a five-year term with the final three years suspended.

On his release from prison in recent days, Barry has returned to his home place at the west Clare resort of Kilkee and has already made contact with Kilrush Garda Station as part of his obligations as a registered sex offender.

Five of the 11 victims spoke out after the Court of Criminal Appeal decision hitting out at the ruling as”‘unjust and wrong”.

Barry, from Well Rd, Kilkee, abused 11 school girls at Moyasta NS over a 21-year period between 1964 and 1985 and has never shown any remorse for the assaults committed in the classroom at the two-teacher school.

The girls were aged between nine and 13 when the abuse took place at Moyasta NS with one of the victims describing Mr Barry as a vicious wolf lying in wait for her every day. She said he “terrorised and abused me daily for years”.

Barry was found guilty of 59 counts of indecent assault and four of the victims in the case were sisters that attended the school where he taught 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th class.

At the Court of Criminal Appeal, Ms Justice Garrett Sheehan said the trial judge had erred in locating the gravity of the offending at the starting point of 11 years imprisonment.

Bearing in mind his age, health problems and the “significant contribution” he made to his community on retirement, Mr Justice Sheehan said the court would suspend the final three years of the five-year sentence.

However, in response to the sentence being reduced, one of the women commented at the time: “I think it belittles us as victims and would almost encourage other ‘would be predators’ that it is worth the risk with a slap on the wrist like this.

She added: “We were innocent, helpless children supposed to be in a protected environment but instead were subjected to this predator every single day for years. No sentence could be long enough to get the correct justice here but to shorten it is just wrong and unjust.”

Another victim said: “I am gutted by the reduction in his sentence. I had to sit during three weeks of evidence at his trial and relive my worst nightmare of a childhood ruined by this man’s abuse.”

She said: “The scars still remain after 40 years. One of the hardest things for me to understand is how his ‘significant contribution’ to his community held such sway in the court of appeal.

“In my opinion, these contributions can never outweigh the significant damage and hurt I have have been left with by Pat Barry’s abuse.

She added: “One consolation I have is that Pat Barry was found guilty by a unanimous verdict and is a registered sex offender.”

Another said that as a victim of Mr Barry “this predator has shown no remorse for his behaviour and despite having been found guilty on all charges continues, it would seem, to claim his innocence”.

This story first appeared in the Irish Examiner .