John Prior: Passing of Institutional Abuse Survivor and Campaigner – January 5th, 2026

Campaigner, advocate and survivor John Prior died on New Year’s Eve after a long illness under the care of the palliative team at University Hospital Kerry.

As a child, John was placed in the notorious St Joseph’s Industrial School in Balloonagh, Tralee in the middle of the last century; he spent 14 years in the institution.

In 2018, he spoke to Jerry ahead of the late Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland.