Just 16 out of a potential 210 school sex abuse payments made by State

Louise O'Keeffe. European High Court found Ireland had failed to protect her as a five-year-old from her primary school principal and abuser Leo Hickey. File Picture: Maura Hickey

Just 16 out of a potential 210 payments have been made in the last six years to people who took legal action against the State over school child sexual abuse.

A scheme announced by then-minister for education Jan O’Sullivan in 2015, offers ex-gratia payments to those who initiated proceedings against the State over the abuse but who subsequently discontinued their claims.

Claimants were required to prove they were sexually abused while at school by a school employee where a prior complaint of sexual abuse to the school authority (or a school authority in which the employee had previously worked) had been made.

At the time, the State Claims Agency and the Chief State Solicitor’s Office reviewed its case files and some 210 potential school child sexual abuse cases were identified.

Since the scheme was established in July 2015, a total of 50 applications have been received and 16 offers of payment of €84,000 have been made and accepted.

The €84,000 figure is based on the result of a European Court of Human Rights case taken by Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe in January 2014 that Ireland had failed to protect her as a five-year-old from her primary school principal Leo Hickey who abused her when at school.

The Government initially interpreted the ruling that it was only liable for damages in cases where there had been a prior complaint against an abuser.

In 2019, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill reviewed the judgment and found the State was wrong in its interpretation which had led it to close off the ex-gratia payment scheme to certain survivors. 

He said the finding was “incompatible” with the ECHR’s judgment in Ms O’Keeffe case.

Last year, Ms O’Keeffe emailed government leaders and newly appointed Education Minister Norma Foley saying the lack of action on the scheme had failed victims.

Ms Foley says officials from her department are engaged with officials from the Attorney General’s office on Justice O'Neill's findings and examining the ex-gratia scheme.

She said the issues require careful deliberation before proposals can be finalised and brought to Government. 

"It is important to have a more complete awareness of the extent of the problem, the number of people who could potentially be involved, the legal implications of any course of action, and an accurate estimate of likely costs before a new or modified scheme is considered."