A man who claimed a paedophile priest groomed and sexually abused him at a Co Down school is to receive £115,000 in damages.
The settlement was reached in a High Court action over alleged historical assaults by the late Father Malachy Finegan.
The plaintiff, who is not being named, sued the Diocese of Dromore, along with the Trustees and Board of Governors at St Colman’s College in Newry.
Proceedings centred on alleged attacks on him while a pupil at the school during the 1980s.
Finegan, the president of the college at the time, initially groomed and later sexually assaulted the plaintiff on several occasions, his lawyers claimed.
The alleged molestation was said to have progressed from seemingly innocuous questions about family and puberty, to isolating him from other children, and eventually severe sexual assaults.
The case is among a series of actions focused on the activities of Finegan during the period he taught and worked at St Colman’s College.
The priest, who died on 2002, was accused of a long campaign of child sexual abuse but never prosecuted or questioned by police about claims made against him.
In 2018 it emerged that the Diocese of Dromore settled a previous claim made by one of his alleged victims.
At that stage the Board of Governors at St Colman’s condemned the physical, sexual and emotional abuse inflicted by Finnegan while he worked there.
His image was also removed from the school’s photographs.
Legal action against the defendants involved claims for negligence, assault, battery and trespass to the person.
It was confirmed in court that the plaintiff is to receive a £115,000 payout plus costs under the terms of the resolution.
No admission of liability was made by the defendants.
Following the settlement the man’s solicitor, Owen Winters of KRW Law, said he can now continue his “healing process”.
But he stressed: “Sadly for many victims and survivors of historical sexual abuse generally, closure remains as elusive as ever.
“The memories of abuse perpetrated upon them never ever fade away.”
Mr Winters added: “More specifically for many, the horrendous legacy left by Malachy Finegan looms as large as it did all those years ago when he was abusing children on a weekly basis.
“A damages cheque, welcome as it is, will never erase that legacy.”