Flaws in Ireland's redress scheme for school sexual abuse victims raised in Europe

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the State failed to protect Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe, who was abused at her primary school in the 1970s.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has raised what it says are significant flaws with a new redress scheme for survivors of sexual abuse in schools with the Council of Europe.

The State has set aside €31m to address its redress obligations to survivors of sexual abuse in national schools through an ex gratia [without obligation] scheme. 

It was originally set up in 2014 after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the State failed to protect Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe, who was abused at her primary school in the 1970s.

A revised ex gratia scheme was launched this summer that removed some of the most criticised aspects of entry criteria.

Now the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has written to the Council of Europe’s Council of Ministers, saying it is concerned that the new scheme is only open to victims who sued the State before July 1, 2021.

It argues that this is an “arbitrary date” as victims who sued the State are not more deserving of redress than those who did not. The revised scheme also fails to adequately provide for survivors’ legal costs, according to the commission.

Through the scheme, survivors are only eligible for €4,000 towards legal costs, which are likely to be substantially higher. 

“This means the awards made to many victims will be eaten up by outstanding legal bills,” the commission says,  adding that the revised scheme also places the onus on victims to explain how their abuse would have been prevented.

Victims are obligated to satisfy the State Claims Agency that had procedures for dealing with allegations of child abuse been in place, there would have been a real prospect of altering the outcome or mitigating the harm suffered as a result.

In its letter, the commission says: “There can be no objective justification for subjecting people whose childhoods were shattered by sexual abuse to such an insensitive exercise, which can be based on no more than a series of hypotheticals.

Placing the onus on victims to explain how their abuse would have been prevented is redundant when, as the judgment of the Grand Chamber makes clear, Ireland failed to put in place effective mechanisms of child protection in Irish schools.

The commission has also asked the Council of Europe again to transfer this case to an enhanced supervision process which would see Ireland more closely monitored on its implementation of the 2014 O’Keeffe ruling.

Sinéad Gibney, chief commissioner with the commission, said: “Redress for children subjected to life-changing abuses by trusted adults in what should have been a safe place of learning, is being treated by the State as a tick box exercise rather than one which responds to survivors’ needs.

"Once again, Ireland is failing to adopt the humility and respect required in dealing with victims of State wrongdoing, and instead taking a defensive position, informed by suspicion and distrust.” 

“As victims grow older, we cannot allow the State to run down the clock on their right to effective redress.”