Payments for 200 victims of school sex abuse

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.

Cases that were the subject of settlement talks over the past seven months concerned those who still had active cases at the time of Louise O’Keeffe’s successful claim against the State at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in January 2014. However, new offers may be made to those who dropped claims, in the wake of Ms O’Keeffe’s case.

The Irish Supreme Court rejected her case in which she held the Minister for Education and the State responsible in her abuse by a school principal in the early 1970s. Before the matter was referred to the ECHR, a number of claimants discontinued their cases when the State Claims Agency told them they could be pursued for legal costs if unsuccessful in the courts.