A former care worker at Trudder House residential centre for homeless boys at Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, has been found guilty of attempted buggery of two boys in the 1980s.
Brendan Kelly (33), of Drumvoughane, Moycullen, Co Galway, was convicted by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court following a four-day trial.
The jury failed to reach a verdict on two further sex abuse charges involving a third victim.
Mr Michael McDowell SC, prosecuting, said he anticipated the State would not proceed with a retrial on these charges.
Judge Kieran O'Connor remanded Kelly in custody for sentence on March 9th, 1998, and directed the preparation of probation and victim impact reports.
The jury took just over two hours to find Kelly guilty of attempting to bugger one boy on a date unknown between January 1st, 1983, and December 31st, 1987.
The jury then convicted him of a second attempted buggery charge by an 11-1 majority verdict following a further half-hour's deliberation.
Kelly, who denied the charges, said he had been sexually abused himself as a boy. He started work at Trudder House when he was 18 years old through the assistance of a priest, but he had no formal training as a social worker.