Richard Bruton fails to respond to query over abuse payouts

Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

The resolution of a legal dispute over payments to victims of sex abuse in schools is being held up by a delayed response from Education Minister Richard Bruton to a retired High Court judge.

He was asked for the submission at the start of July by the independent assessor of appeals in a scheme set up after the 2014 European Court of Human Rights judgment in favour of Louise O’Keeffe.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill wanted Mr Bruton to respond by the end of July to legal submissions made in reply to his defence of the rules of his ex-gratia compensation scheme.

The Department of Education told the Irish Examiner yesterday that the minister has yet to respond.

Following a request from the assessor, the minister is finalising a further submission to the assessor which should be forwarded within the next two weeks,” said a spokesperson.

Complainants and their legal advisers have persistently criticised the scheme’s interpretation of the O’Keeffe judgment, saying it is wrong to restrict inclusion to victims of child sexual abuse in schools who can prove their abusers were the subject of prior complaints to school authorities.

A number of claimants refused payment under the scheme referred their cases to Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill. He was appointed by the minister last November as an independent assessor to hear appeals from the scheme which is administered by the State Claims Agency for the department in line with the definitions set by the Government.

An initial submission from Mr Bruton was made at the end of April, a month later than the date set by the judge.

Mr Bruton strongly defended the State’s interpretation of the O’Keeffe judgment. Mr Justice O’Neill invited observations on Mr Bruton’s submissions from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, a number of solicitors representing victims, and the school of law at University College Cork, whose child law clinic assisted Ms O’Keeffe’s legal team.

It is also supporting the case brought, in the meantime, by another school abuse victim, John Allen from Cork, who lodged a case in the European Court of Human Rights last month complaining of the redress scheme’s narrow terms.

A month earlier, the Government lost a Dáil vote on a Fianna Fáil motion which called for access to the redress scheme for those who were sexually abused in primary school and whose abusers have been convicted.