A teenager accused of the attempted murder of a priest at an army barracks in Galway will go on trial in May. 

The boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, is due to go before a jury at the Central Criminal Court. 

On August 15th last year, army chaplain Fr Paul Murphy was stabbed several times at the Renmore barracks in Galway.

The 16-year-old boy before the courts was initially charged with assault causing harm to Fr Murphy but that has since been upgraded to a charge of attempted murder.

This afternoon, Mr Justice Paul McDermott was told the trial is expected to take up to seven days, and taking that into account, the boy’s barrister, Sean Gillane SC, asked for a trial date to be set.

Mr Justice McDermott set down May 6th for trial, with the case due to be mentioned before him again next month.

Until then, the boy was further remanded to the Oberstown Children Detention Campus.

Main image: Dublin Central Criminal Court. Picture by: PA Wire/PA Images.