A man who sexually abused his daughter and two other girls from infancy to teenage years has been jailed for four years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said the 48-year-old Dublin man's actions were on the upper end of the scale considering the age of his victims, the variety of abuse, and the length of time it continued.
"Each of them has been scarred in their own way by the abuse," Judge Ó Donnabháin said, expressing hope the sentence would help them achieve some form of closure to their suffering.
The man, who was until recently a casual labourer at building sites, pleaded guilty to six sample counts of sexual abuse out of 47 in the indictment. The abuse took place between 1980 and 1989 at addresses in Cabra and Finglas.
Det Garda Brendan Bergin told Ms Mary Rose Geraty, prosecuting, that the girls - the man's daughter, sister-in-law and wife's niece - were aged about six years when he began abusing them.
Det Garda Bergin said most of the abuse took place when the girls were sleeping .
Neither girl had known it was happening to the other, and the abuse stopped only when they were aged around 12 or 13 and the girls began demanding he stop.
Mr Erwin Mill-Arden SC, defending, said his client's attitude after he was confronted with the accusations had been "very, very refreshing" as he had not tried to blame anything or anyone else for his actions.
When arrested in September 2001 after the girls complained to gardaí a month before, the defendant said: "I didn't know why I did these things. They just seemed to happen. I am sorry."
Judge Ó Donnabháin ordered the man's details to be entered into the sex offenders' register.