A number of similar incidents occurred in the following months, including in Cooney’s car.
The meetings stopped in December after a Facebook message from Cooney before he contacted her again in May 2015 via social media.
Garda investigations led by Detective Damien McGovern began in 2016 after the girl was told that Cooney couldn’t go on a weekend away with her due to a sports injury.
The girl told her parents and they became aware that the son of a close acquaintance had also suffered a similar injury and a Facebook search revealed his identity.
At a court sitting in October, it emerged that Cooney read a letter of apology, claiming that he “never thought I would be capable of such things” and that “I lied to you, I lied to gardaí and I was also lying to myself”.