A Donegal father who sexually abused his daughter has thanked her for reporting him to the authorities, the Irish Examiner reports.

The father confessed to abusing his daughter on several occasions after getting drunk in 2006 and 2007. He was sentences to five years in prison for the abuse.

Letterkenny District Court heard on one occasion he gave his wife money to go out and then proceeded to abuse his daughter.

The accused, whose identity cannot be revealed to protect his daughter, told the court that the family had very liberal views regarding sex and they had watched pornography in the family home together. Explicit details of the sexual abuse were detailed to the court.

The victim only revealed the truth to her mother after she got angry at her daughter for breaking her curfew and failing to return home.
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The mother then confronted her husband who confessed he has “tried it on” with their daughter.

The couple separated soon after and the man moved to Sligo, where he attended 90 therapy sessions for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence.

He told the court he still cannot explain why he did such terrible things to his daughter.

"I would like to thank [his daughter] for having the strength to contact the gardaí (police)," he said.

"I can never fix the damage I have done to her."

In a statement, the victim said she suffers from panic attacks, has to take sleeping pills and is being treated for depression.

Judge John O’Hagan said the case was very disturbing, considering it was a father and a daughter.

"The affects are forever," the judge said. "Isn’t it awful that a daughter never wants to see a father again? The sense of breach of trust is just awful to contemplate."

He placed the accused on the sex offenders register for the remainder of his life.