Extradition proceedings are under way against a man in his 80s as part of the investigation into reports of historic sexual abuse at a number of schools run by the Spiritan congregation.
More than 150 people have reported incidents of child sexual abuse to gardaí investigating such allegations at schools run by the order, such as Blackrock College and its feeder school Willow Park in south Dublin.
Gardaí have said many of the contacts were from people who said they were the victims of abuse, but also included contacts from people who said they had witnessed abuse or were making contact on behalf of victims.
These complaints were assessed by gardaí to see what actions could be carried out and in a “significant number” of cases the investigations have been completed as the alleged suspects are dead.
However, files relating to 14 victims have been submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Gardaí confirmed that extradition proceedings are under way against a man in his 80s.
They also said that directions were received to charge another individual, who subsequently died before the proceedings began.
A third individual has been charged in relation to the allegations and that case is before the courts.
The allegations first emerged in November 2022 when brothers David and Mark Ryan shared their stories of the repeated sexual abuse they received while pupils at the prestigious Blackrock College on RTÉ Radio’s Doc on One programme ‘Blackrock Boys’.
Mark Ryan died in September of last year.
The Government established a scoping inquiry into historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders following the broadcast of ‘Blackrock Boys’.
The document is more than 700 pages long and includes 26 chapters across five volumes.
