A senior Irish politician has revealed a Catholic priest sexually abused him and tried to groom him.

Conor Murphy recounted how the late Father Malachy Finnegan dragged him into an office, beat him with a stick and asked him sexually explicit questions including if he loved him.

Finnegan, who taught at St Colman's College, Newry, County Down, from 1967 to 1976, died in 2002.

Murphy described the priest as a 'violent, volatile, bullying drunkard'.

In an interview with the Press Association he said: 'There was a bit of ruckus going on in the class we were in and Finnegan burst into the room.

'He singled me out, he dragged me out by the hair, by the crown of your head, dragged me along the corridor, up two flights of stairs into his room and then he beat me with a stick on the hands and about the body.

'He was always prone to more violence than was perhaps to do with discipline.

'And then he suddenly flipped, as I was almost expecting, he sat me down and started asking me personal questions – did I smoke, did I drink? Bear in mind I was 14. Did I go out with girls? Did I masturbate? Did I love him? This type of conversation.

'I can't remember my responses but I wasn't shocked by the conversation, because I had been forewarned by other pupils that this was what was likely to happen.'

However Murphy said his experience 'paled into insignificance' compared to other victims of Finnegan.

The priest was never prosecuted for his abuse although allegations against were investigated by the National Board for Safeguarding Children – a clerical abuse watchdog set up by the Catholic Church.

He was also accused of physical and sexual abuse by a number of former pupils, including the brother of former Irish president, Mary McAleese, and all while he was a priest in Clonduff, County Down.

'We knew it was wrong, it was inappropriate, that it was not natural for a man, particularly a priest, to behave in that fashion,' said Murphy.

He added that 'we didn't understand it was essentially a grooming exercise' but that students knew 'if you were in a room alone with him that he was liable to ask you very inappropriate questions and display an inordinate interest in your sexual development'.

'We didn't know that he had sexually abused boys but we knew and understood that he had an unhealthy interest and the way you approached that conversation was to shut down and try to get out of that office as quickly as you could.'

He added: 'I didn't know what a paedophile was, we didn't know what the behaviour of a paedophile was, but as an adult looking back it was fairly obvious to us that these were the classic symptoms of paedophilia.'

Speaking of Finnegan's heavy drinking, Murphy said: 'I was only a kid but I had worked in a bar from when I was 12 years old and I knew.

'He would appear in the corridor in the mornings with his shoe laces undone, his vest hanging out underneath his shirt, his eyes bloodshot and quite aggressive.

'He would launch an attack if someone was coming up the corridor with their tie not straight they were liable to get thumped in the face for it.

'That was going on as a matter of course through my time there.'

He accused the Catholic school of 'allowing a paedophile to flourish'.

'They left him to abuse people without any interference probably across two generations of boys,' he said.

'I am angry that a man who was a violent, aggressive bully, a drunkard with an unhealthy interest in children, and that was obvious, was allowed to be a principal of a school, was allowed to be teacher in a school over a long number of years, allowed access to young boys.'

In a statement to Finnegan's lawyers Murphy said: 'I hope me speaking publicly maybe gives some people confidence to come forward, and that's the purpose of me speaking.

'It's not to draw any degree of sympathy for myself but it's actually to encourage others and to say that we believe those who say they were sexually abused, we know the pattern in the school.'

St Colman's College said it condemns in the 'strongest possible terms the physical, sexual and emotional abuse inflicted by Malachy Finegan'.

In a statement, the board of governors at St Colman's College said: 'The board unreservedly condemns all abuse and advises that anyone who is a victim to contact the PSNI.

'The school is co-operating fully with a PSNI investigation regarding historic abuse.

'This is the most suitable mechanism to address these issues. Until such investigations are complete the board will not be making further public statements.'