A former Circuit Court Judge has been jailed for four years for the sexual abuse of six young men 30 years ago.
Gerard O'Brien (59) of Slievenamon Road, Thurles in Co Tipperary was convicted of eight counts of sexual assault and one charge of attempted rape.
O'Brien had served as a Circuit Court Judge since 2015 until he stepped down last January following his conviction.
The offences took place between 1991 and 1997 when he was aged in his late 20s and early 30s.
Four of the victims were students in a school in which Mr O’Brien was a teacher.
He had denied all of the allegations but was convicted by a jury in December last year.
The court heard O'Brien was born with no arms and one leg and Mr Justice Alexander Owens said he had "misused his disability" to take advantage of his victims.
The Judge said O'Brien had engaged in predatory behaviour.
Mr Justice Owens handed a sentence of five years and nine months.
He suspended the final 21 months of that sentence - meaning O'Brien will spend four years behind bars.