One in four applications for redress related to sexual abuse in Irish schools is rejected

Of the 136 applications to date under the redress scheme for victims of sexual abuse in national schools, 99 have been approved. Stock picture: iStock

One in four applications to the Government’s €31m redress scheme for victims of sexual abuse in national schools has been rejected.

Since the revised scheme was reopened in summer 2021, just a quarter of the funding has been paid out to victims.

The Department of Education estimated it would pay out €31m through the revised scheme, with the majority expected to be paid out during 2022.

The revised redress scheme, which is due to close for new applications in July 2023, has faced criticism for remaining too restrictive.

Three years ago, victims of sexual abuse in national schools received a State apology after the State was found to be misinterpreting a landmark ruling and denying them access to redress.

The scheme for survivors of abuse in Irish national schools was set up in 2014 after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the State failed to protect Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe. Picture: Dan Linehan

Speaking in the Dáil at the time, then taoiseach Leo Varadkar said to victims: “The State failed them at the time, failed them again a second time when it did not own up to its responsibility. We won’t fail them a third time.”

The revised scheme was reopened for applications in 2021. Figures provided to the Irish Examiner by the department show that, to date, there have been 136 applications for redress, of which 99 have been approved. 

A further 34 applications have been refused, and a further three applications are still pending.

The total paid out to applicants through the scheme to date is €7.56m.

Applications are assessed by the State Claims Agency which administers the scheme on behalf of the State.

The State’s ex-gratia scheme for survivors of abuse in national schools was 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.

In 2019, it emerged that the State had paid nothing to survivors through the scheme. An independent review by retired High Court judge Iarfhlaith O’Neill found that its terms and conditions were too onerous for survivors to meet.

The State went on to remove the most criticised clause of the scheme, which required survivors to provide evidence that their abuser had abused another before them.

However, the terms and conditions of the revised scheme remain “unduly restrictive”, according to Conor O’Mahony, professor at the School of Law at University College Cork.

“It is concerning that one in four applications have been refused,” he said. “The terms and conditions of the scheme remain unduly restrictive and will result in the exclusion of some individuals who experienced virtually identical abuse to others whose applications were approved.”

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has previously written to the Council of Europe’s Council of Ministers to highlight its concerns with the revised scheme.

A spokesman for the department said that to qualify for a payment, an applicant must demonstrate that “the facts of their case come within the parameters of the ECtHR judgment.”