A priest, Ivan Payne, who apologised to his sex abuse victims under oath from the witness box, has been remanded in custody for sentence by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Judge Cyril Kelly said he wanted to take time to consider all aspects of the case, including case law, in his judgment. He set June 23rd as the sentence date.
Mr Michael McDowell SC, defending, said Payne accepted he had to be given a custodial sentence but counsel suggested that a long custodial sentence did not of itself best serve society in all cases. He said the court should consider the question of rehabilitation.
In his address to the court, Payne said he wanted to acknowledge he had hurt many people by his behaviour, including his victims, their family and friends, as well as his own family and friends.
"I am sorry for the hurt I have caused them all. I want them to know I deeply regret the hurt I caused them," he said.
Payne noted that some of his victims had been in court for the hearing and added: "They are not to blame. They didn't cause the abuse. I alone was responsible for that."
He said that with the passage of time he had come to learn how devastating for them sex abuse could be, but he was taking steps to ensure "it will never happen again".
Earlier on the second day of the hearing, a consultant psychotherapist, Ms Marie Keenan, from the Granada Institute, described the lack of sex offenders' treatment programmes in prisons here as "a national scandal".
Ms Keenan said there were 247 sentenced sex offenders in May 1997 but only 10 places available on treatment programmes. She said it had been proved here and abroad that these programmes worked and reduced the possibility of 35 per cent of the men reoffending to about 10 per cent.
She said the three consultations Payne had with a psychiatrist in 1981, when his sexual offending was first revealed to the Dublin diocesan authorities, was totally inadequate as treatment. He had been attending the Granada Institute since 1995 and she found him at times "inconsolable with remorse".
Replying to Mr McDowell (with Mr Hugh Hartnett), Ms Keenan said she did not believe Payne was a "fixated paedophile".
His feelings of low self-esteem and loneliness as an adolescent were accentuated by his suffering from chronic acne and an environment in which it was felt that it was bad and dirty to have thoughts on sexuality.
Ms Keenan said Payne entered into adult life with repressed sexuality and his choice of a celibate life where close intimate friendships were not encouraged exacerbated the difficulties. That seemed to be changing now among priests.
"He was a psychologically imprisoned man behind the charismatic figure described to the court by Det Sgt Bernard Sherry in evidence of the offences," she said. He was only now beginning to develop healthy relationships as a result of the treatment he underwent.
Ms Keenan said Payne had been "a hunted man" since the controversy erupted about his civil settlement with one of his victims. His father died while Payne was in hospital at this time and he felt guilty about that, too.
Mr McDowell said Payne's guilty plea had been as full as possible. The Supreme Court had ruled that was a factor to be put into the balance when sentencing. He did not attempt in any way to minimise the seriousness of his offending.
This case had attracted major media attention but it was the court which sentenced and not the media. The ecclesiastical authorities were not on trial either. "Ivan Payne doesn't seek to spread responsibility on anyone but himself," counsel said.
Mr McDowell said if errors were made by the ecclesiastical authorities when Payne's offending was first revealed in 1981, that was not germane to the case before the court. Neither was the disappointment suffered by one of his victims who was turned down for the priesthood.
It was clear Payne had committed repeated offences against vulnerable victims. The offences were not accompanied by violence or intimidation.
Mr McDowell said Payne grew up in "a faith-dominated home" where all feelings of sexuality were repressed. At the time young men were encouraged to join the priesthood and he thus consigned himself into a society where emotion was denied.
"Ivan Payne didn't use the priesthood as a means to gain access to young boys. His choice was made for the best of reasons to do good, but in hindsight it was probably the wrong choice for him," counsel added.
Mr McDowell said Payne had huge remorse for the hurt and anger he had caused his victims. He felt a sense of total desolation. "His vocation is shattered, his life is shattered, he has attracted public shame and odium."
Payne (54), with an address care of the Dublin Archdiocese, has pleaded guilty to a total of 13 sample charges of indecently assaulting nine boys on dates from 1968 to 1987.
The offences were committed on patients in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, while he was chaplain there, and on altar boys in locations in Glasnevin and Sutton. The victims were aged between 11 and 14 at the time.
Det Sgt Sherry told prosecuting counsel, Mr Tom O'Connell, the offending generally involved Payne handling the victim's genitals as well as mutual masturbation in the case of one victim.
Det Sgt Sherry described how Payne would put his arm around the victims and then move his hand down their waistband or under hospital bedclothes to their genitals.
Payne was regarded as a charismatic person and highly thought of in the communities in which he worked. He was accepted by several of the victims' families. His victims were generally shy and vulnerable and many of them came from very religious homes. This inhibited them from complaining.
The hearing continues.