Ireland's main television network RTE has issued a full apology to the priest it had wrongly accused of fathering a child with an underaged girl.

The RTE program 'Prime Time Investigates' claimed in May that Fr Kevin Reynolds fathered a baby girl in Africa with an underage Kenyan girl named Veneranda.

According to the Independent, the Galway priest denied the claims and pleaded with the makers of 'A Mission To Prey' not to broadcast the program. He even offered to take a paternity test, which came back negative last month.

Fr Reynolds was forced to step down from his parish in Ahascragh, Co Galway because of the allegations. He is set to return to his parish this Sunday to say Mass for the first time since stepping down from his parish duties.

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RTE apologized for the allegation on Friday and issued the following statement:

"RTE now fully and unreservedly accepts that the allegations made by 'Prime Time' against Fr Kevin Reynolds are baseless, without any foundation whatever and untrue, and that Fr Reynolds is a priest of the utmost integrity who has had an unblemished 40-year career in the priesthood."

Fr Reynolds' libel action against the allegations is expected to continue before the High Court in a few weeks.