A man in his 40s has been jailed for 17-and-a-half years for the rape and sexual assault of four of his daughters.
The sentence was imposed at the Central Criminal Court in Cork, after the man pleaded guilty to a number of sample counts on an indictment that ran to 128 charges.
Most of the offences were sexual assaults, but they also included rape, oral rape and attempted rape.
The man cannot be identified to protect the anonymity of his victims.
The offences occurred over a period of almost 16 years, between 2005 and 2021, when the man's daughters were children as young as seven and nine.
At one stage, the court was told, one of the man's daughters confirmed details of the abuse in 2012 and the child and family agency, Tusla, became involved.
The court was told the man made threats to harm himself after he was asked to move out of home, and this led to great upset within the family.
The girl then withdrew her complaint and was subsequently "forced" to apologise to her abuser. This caused even more upset and affected her mentally.
The court was told that the abuse then resumed and continued for several years after.
The abuse came to the attention of Tusla again in 2021 and was referred to gardaí, where the case was investigated by a Protective Services Unit at a garda division in Co Cork.
The man was arrested, questioned and charged.
Last month, a letter was sent on his behalf indicating that he would be pleading guilty on a full facts basis, meaning he accepted the case being made against him by the State in full for all 128 counts on the indictment.
The court was told the abuse occurred at a number of different locations, including in the family home.
One of the girls described how the abuse turned their home into a place of horror, another described it as a continuous hell.
One said she cried during the abuse, but it continued while another said she "begged and begged" her father to leave her alone, but he didn't.
The eldest girl felt the only saving grace was that she believed she was the only one being abused, and that she was taking all the pain away from everyone else.
She said she felt her entire life was stolen from her when she discovered her sisters were also being abused.
"No one should have to go through what me and my sisters went through," one of the sisters said in a victim impact statement read to the court and quoted this afternoon by Ms Justice Karen O'Connor.
Ms Justice O'Connor quoted another of the sisters as saying: "At the age of nine, my childhood bedroom became the place where I witnessed my sister being abused. I don't think any child can be prepared for their father to be an abuser.
"My innocence was stolen from me. I have never had the chance to reach my full potential," she added.
She also stated that she felt "suffocated" by her father.
The girls described fearing going to bed, knowing that it was only a matter of time before they heard their father's footsteps "creeping around the house" towards their bedroom.
The abuse occurred on an almost daily basis, sometimes twice or three times a day.
"What have we done to deserve this," one of the girls asked in her victim impact statement.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Imposing sentence, Ms Justice O'Connor said the man had abused his dominant position within the family over a long number of years.
The judge outlined a number of aggravating factors, the most serious of which, she said, was the impact which it had on the four children.
"It would be difficult to describe a more fundamental breach of trust than this father's behaviour towards his children," Ms Justice O'Connor said.
Among the other aggravating factors were the nature and frequency of the abuse and the extended period of time over which it was perpetuated. Ms Justice O'Connor described the abuse as degrading and humiliating.
Ms Justice O'Connor said the man's guilty plea was the most significant mitigating factor in his favour.
The judge said it saved his victims from having to give evidence and be cross-examined; it was also a public admission by him that his daughters were to be believed.
She said a father's role was to protect his children and this man breached that position of trust through offending which she described as "egregious" and "prolonged".
She imposed a range of sentences which will be served concurrently and which effectively means the man has been jailed for a total of 17 and a half years.
Ms Justice O'Connor addressed the man's daughters, some of whom were in court, and said they struck her as incredible people who had shown enormous courage.
She said it was her hope that they would continue to support and mind each other for the rest of their lives.
