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 Taoiseach’s apology for sexual abuse of schoolchildren by teachers and others is welcome.

Everyone who suffered abuse in a defective school system should now be paid the compensation they are entitled to under human rights law, writes Conor O’Mahony.

The apology offered by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday to those sexually abused in day schools, and for the delay in acknowledging the State’s responsibility to them, is welcome, even if it should have been offered many, many years ago.

While an apology issued to abuse survivors has been cautiously welcomed, survivors have now called on the Government to expedite access to the redress they are legally entitled to.

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.

A review of a redress scheme set up for victims of child sexual abuse following a landmark 2014 judgement has found that the State imposed an illogical and unfair requirement on victims seeking compensation.

The State’s “failed” system to provide payments to victims of child sexual abuse in schools needs to be reformed “without delay” as many survivors are elderly, the State’s human rights watchdog has said.

A woman who took a case against the State to the European Court of Human Rights has expressed disappointment at the State’s failure to compensate victims of sexual abuse in day schools.

Abuse survivor Louise O’Keeffe has accused the State of trying to renege on its responsibilities to people who were sexually abused as children in schools after it emerged that a Government compensation scheme set up four years ago has paid nothing to survivors.

Hundreds of sex abuse victims should be compensated by the State without having to prove a prior complaint was made to authorities, the Government will be told next week.

Education Minister Richard Bruton has sent a response to a former High Court judge’s request for a justification of the Government’s controversial interpretation of a European ruling in the Louise O’Keeffe school sex abuse case.

I’ve never met Orla Tinsley, for example, but my admiration for her is boundless, writes Fergus Finlay. 

The Government are deliberately trying to limit compensation to those who were abused as children in primary schools, the Dáil has heard.

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.

Children’s rights campaigners have welcomed a move by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to try to force a Government rethink on its attitude to compensating victims of child sex abuse.

A group of solicitors from around the country are coming together to win damages against the State, for people sexually abused in Irish primary schools.

Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe was abused by school principal Leo Hickey while she was an eight-year-old pupil at Dunderrow NS, in Kinsale, in 1973.

The Department of Education has been accused of “bullying tactics” after it wrote letters to people who were sexually abused in schools as children, warning them to drop their legal cases or potentially face significant costs.

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.

More than 200 child sex abuse victims who dropped cases against the State relating to abuse when they were at school could be eligible for offers up to €84,000 each under a new scheme approved by the Government.

The annual search for individuals and groups who have heartened and inspired the nation is under way, as nominations open for the 2015 People of the Year Awards.

Courageous abuse survivor Louise O’Keeffe is set to take on the State again over its “insulting” settlement offer arising out of her landmark legal case.

It’s ladies to the fore as the 2014 Cork Person of the Year will be announced this week.

The terms of reference for the mother-and-baby home inquiry will be published following the first Cabinet meeting in the new year.

It is unprecedented — but entirely fitting — that two individuals who triggered the resignations of a minister for justice and a Garda commissioner, while forcing a Taoiseach to change his tune, should be honoured among the recipients of the People of the Year awards. But that is precisely what happened at the weekend, bringing to a close, for now, a chapter of the saga surrounding garda whistleblowers Maurice McCabe and John Wilson who have exposed wholesale corruption within the gardaí.

Whistleblowers Maurice McCabe and John Wilson have been honoured for their efforts to expose corruption in An Garda Síochána at an awards ceremony at the weekend.

The Government is to consider appointing a nationally recognised, go-to figure that children around the country could contact in confidence with complaints of abuse.

Abuse survivor Louise O’Keeffe — who won a landmark case against the Government in the European courts — has again accused the State of dragging its heels over its response to her case.

It was a tough summer for music promoter Peter Aiken who was at the centre of the Garth Brooks concert fiasco.

If ever there was a tipping point in the national historic drama of Irish abortion laws, this latest horror is it, writes Rachel Doyle

THE Department of Education is an extraordinary place. In the various bits of bumph it publishes from time to time — annual reports, statements of strategy, and the like — it sets out its mission as "enabling learners to achieve their full potential and contribute to Ireland’s economic, social, and cultural development".

WILL there be truth now, or will we go on hiding?

From the courtroom to the cartoon studio — a leading law firm has commissioned a quirky animation to explain its services in plain English.

The Government will change legislation to close off a 21-year-old legal loophole which allows for shorter sentences for women in incest cases.

A sexual abuse survivor who won her 15-year landmark legal battle with the State last month has been named Cork Person of the Month.

I would like to congratulate the wonderful Louise O’Keeffe on her successful case in the European Court of Human Rights, which helped give recognition to children’s rights.

Socialist MEP Paul Murphy spoke forcefully in the European Parliament during the week against homophobic attitudes in Ireland.

The fact that a dozen paedophile priests were active in Dublin in the 1970s has been described by the city’s Catholic Archbishop Diarmuid Martin as a tragedy.

Louise O’Keeffe is remarkable; her innocence was destroyed by an agent of the Irish State, yet her naivete regarding a politician’s apology remains undimmed.

The State Claims Agency (SCA) is expected to examine dozens of school sex abuse claims that were withdrawn following a stark 2009 government warning that it would pursue its costs if the alleged victims lost their cases.