The Chilean government has decided to deport an Irish priest who was convicted last year of sexually abusing a young girl, according to the Chilean interior ministry.

John O'Reilly was sentenced to four years' probation in November for repeatedly molesting the girl from the time she was five.

The abuse took place from 2010 to 2012 at an exclusive school where O'Reilly was the spiritual advisor at the time.

The interior ministry said it was revoking O'Reilly's permanent residency and that he would have to leave the country after completing his sentence in 2018.

The decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court.

O'Reilly, 69, was once an influential figure in Chile as the local head of the Catholic Church's ultra-conservative Legion of Christ order.

He arrived in Chile in 1984 and was granted citizenship in 2008 - but had it revoked in March by Congress.

The Legion of Christ has been beset by accusations of sexual abuse.

The order's founder, Mexican-born Marcial Maciel, stepped down in 2005 amid allegations of pedophilia and fathering several children. He died in 2008.