A 76-year-old Brother of Charity pleaded guilty yesterday to 77 charges of sexually assaulting boys who were in his care during the 1950s and 1960s.
James Kelly, otherwise known as Brother Ambrose, appeared before Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
He was charged with assaulting five boys, aged between 10 and 16, at the Lota school in Glanmire, Co Cork.
Mr Pearse Sreenan, for Kelly, made an appeal for his client to be transferred to the Curragh prison camp where a regime was in place to treat his medical ailments.
The brother suffers from angina and is awaiting two hip replacements.
Mr Sreenan said Kelly found it difficult to walk up the stairs at Cork prison, where he had been since he was rearrested on fresh charges.
Kelly was sentenced to 18 consecutive two-year prison terms in November 1999 at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
He had been convicted of sexually abusing boys at the Lota home for orphaned and handicapped children in the 1950s and 1960s.
A helpline was set up in 1999 following an admission by Kelly that he could not remember the names of all the boys he abused.
Kelly was set to be released from prison today after serving just 18 months of his sentence.
He had hoped to spend the rest of his life at a Belgian nursing home and was awaiting approval from the authorities in that country to move there.
Judge Patrick J. Moran made a recommendation that Kelly be transferred to the Curragh prison camp until his next court appearance on March 7th.