Priest pleading guilty to further sex offences

Convicted sex offender Fr Ronald Bennett is pleading guilty to other sex offences at Gormanston College, a circuit court judge…

Convicted sex offender Fr Ronald Bennett is pleading guilty to other sex offences at Gormanston College, a circuit court judge was told yesterday

Bennett's solicitor told Judge Michael O'Shea at Trim Circuit Court that a jury would not be required. State prosecutor Karl Hanahoe said there would be evidence of the impact on the victim on the next court date. Bennett is charged with five sample counts of indecent assault on a boy at the Franciscan-run college in the mid 1970s. In 2007, Bennett was jailed for two and a half years on six sample charges of assault against four pupils from 1974 to 1981. He was ordained in 1961 and appointed to Gormanston as spiritual adviser and sports master in 1963. He was involved in the Irish Swimming Association from 1974.