The failure of the Department of Education to pay any of the court costs incurred by the victims of sex abuse in day schools as it has been directed to has been described by one expert as “an obvious injustice”.

The Department of Education has not made a decision on a redress scheme for those sexually abused in national schools, despite an independent review finding that a condition imposed by the State risks a continued breach of victims’ rights.

How parents whose children are accused of crime are dealt with must change, say senior legal practitioners.

Legal experts have urged the Council of Europe to seek urgent clarification from the European Court of Human Rights about the State’s redress scheme for people who allege they were sexually abused in school.

The Child Law Clinic of University College Cork has sent submissions to the European committee of ministers which could lead to a broadening of the day-school abuse redress scheme which is currently inaccessible to many alleged abuse victims.