Call for end to delay on school abuse decision

The Government should no longer delay a decision on how it plans to respond to dozens of cases of people who were sexually abused at school, six months after the landmark Louise O’Keeffe case ruling by a European court, a solicitor claims.

Ms O’Keeffe was awarded €30,000 in damages by the European Court of Human Rights on January 28 for the State’s failure to protect her from being abused by her primary principal, Leo Hickey, at Dunderrow NS near Kinsale, Co Cork, more than 40 years ago.

There had been complaints about him abusing other children before she became his victim in 1973.