Victim attacks minister for minimising state liability for abused children

Abuse victim Louise O’Keeffe, who defeated the State in the European Court, has launched a stinging attack on Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan over her “deplorable” failure to properly deal with children abused by State employees.

Ms O’Keeffe’s rebuke of the minister comes ahead of the Government’s update to Europe on January 28 regarding its response to the 2014 O’Keeffe judgement. Her comments will be a major embarrassment for the Coalition heading into the general election.

Ms O’Keeffe, who was “fought tooth and nail” by the State, said Ms O’Sullivan and the Government have devised a formula to “opportunistically minimise the liability of the State to these unfortunate victims”.