A former St Joseph’s High School employee has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison at Letterkenny Circuit Court after pleading guilty to 132 historical child sex offences.

Patrick Sharkey, 83, admitted to abusing 19 victims between the 1970s and 1990s. Many of the victims were pupils at the Coleraine school. The court heard Sharkey took boys on weekend canoeing trips to his parents’ home in Clonmany, County Donegal, where much of the offending took place. Other offences occurred at addresses in Dublin.

The presiding judge described the abuse as calculated, pre-meditated and predatory. He said the offending involved significant grooming and that victims had suffered life-altering psychological harm. Impact statements detailed years of mental and emotional trauma.

Sharkey was previously jailed in Northern Ireland in 2023. He received three years and four months for nine counts of indecent assault on three boys at St Joseph’s between 1988 and 1998. Those victims were also involved in the Letterkenny case.

In determining the sentence, the judge considered Sharkey’s age, declining health, early guilty pleas, time already served in Northern Ireland, and his cooperation with Gardaí. Sharkey will serve at least six-and-a-half years, with a further six months on licence.