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.

The Department of Education said yesterday that, after reviewing its case files and those of the Chief State Solicitor’s Office, the agency had identified 210 potential school child sexual abuse cases.

However, to be eligible for an ex gratia payment under the scheme proposed to the Cabinet by Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan, evidence must be provided that they were sexually abused by a school employee who was already subject of a complaint to school authorities.

This condition is based on the State’s interpretation of the landmark ECHR ruling in Ms O’Keeffe’s favour, as it says that it was because a previous complaint against her abuser, Leo Hickey, was not acted on that the court found the State liable.

“The measures being taken are in response to the ECHR judgement that the State failed in its Convention obligations to have effective mechanisms for the detection and reporting of child sexual abuse in the early 1970s when Ms O’Keeffe was abused,” the minister said.

Co Louth solicitor James MacGuill, who has dozens of clients whose cases were still active or had been dropped before the EHCR ruling, said the announcement would be welcome for some of them. But, he said, the criteria are based on the most favourable interpretation of the judgment from the State’s point of view.

Mr MacGuill said conditional offers have been made in the past six weeks to some clients based on discussions around December’s offer of ex gratia payments to people whose cases were still active when the O’Keeffe case was decided 18 months ago.

The Department of Education was unable to say how many such cases covered have been finalised, but a spokesman said many were likely to be still under negotiation.

In an update to the EHCR, which the Government must make every six months after the judgment, the department acknowledges delays introducing statutory vetting arrangements for people working with children.

While changes to the Teaching Council (standards body) law, making provision for it in relation to teachers, has just been passed, Department of Justice legislation needed for wider vetting rules did not pass before the Dáil summer break began last week.