Education Minister defends interpretation of EU court ruling

Education Minister Richard Bruton has defended the Government’s interpretation of the European court ruling in the Louise O’Keeffe case following a query from a former High Court judge about a related compensation scheme.

The Government is only allowing claims under an ex gratia payment scheme from victims of child sexual abuse at day schools if they can provide evidence their abuser had been the subject of a prior complaint.

This has been criticised as too narrow an interpretation of the 2014 judgment in favour of Ms O’Keeffe, in her case against the State for the abuse she suffered by her primary school principal, Leo Hickey, in Cork in the 1970s.