RTÉ HAS ISSUED a public apology to a priest who was accused in a Prime Time programme of raping a teenage girl while he worked as a missionary in Africa during the 1980s.

The programme, broadcast in May, also alleged that he had fathered a child with the girl.

Fr Kevin Reynolds was the subject of a number of allegations in a Prime Time Investigates programme entitled ‘A Mission to Prey’ which looked at allegations of missionaries raping and abusing children over the past 30 years in countries such as Kenya in east Africa.

Reynolds consistently denied all the allegations and later issued High Court proceedings. He was forced to stand down from his ministry and was removed as a priest from Ahascragh in Co Galway.

However, paternity tests have subsequently disproved the claims and he has returned to the priesthood, according to the Irish Times.

Tonight, RTÉ issued this apology: