The Director of Public Prosecutions is to appeal the leniency of a jail sentence imposed on retired religious brother James Kelly, who was convicted of further sex offences last month.
Kelly (77), who was also known as Brother Ambrose, was sentenced to five years at Cork Circuit Criminal Court last month after admitting 77 fresh charges of indecent assault. Four years of the sentence were suspended.
The offences were committed against five boys in the 1940s and 1950s at the religious order's home for orphaned and mildly mentally handicapped boys at Lota on the outskirts of Cork city.
Kelly had been convicted in November 1999 of almost 80 similar offences against three other boys in Cork. His sentence of 36 years was the longest ever prison term for offences of their kind, but he was granted early release on health grounds in June 2001 after serving just 18 months .
He was not released immediately, however, as he was also serving a three-year sentence for sexually abusing 10 children while he was principal of the Holy Family School in Renmore, Galway in the 1960s.
He was due for release into the care of a home run by his order last Februarywhen he was brought to court on 77 new charges.
At all his court appearances pleas for leniency were made on the grounds of his age and medical condition. Evidence was given that he suffered from angina and needed two hip replacements.
At one stage the court granted his lawyers' request for a transfer to the Curragh which had medical care more suited to his needs.
Some of his victims waived their right to anonymity so their abuser could be named. They greeted the outcomes of the hearings last June and last month with disappointment. One of the men, Mr John Barrett, yesterday said the DPP's decision to appeal the latest sentence was "brilliant news". He said Kelly thoroughly deserved a longer sentence.
Last month's sentence was imposed by Judge Patrick Moran who said the terrible pain and anguish Kelly had caused his victims had to be balanced against his guilty plea, his age and ill health.