Focus on redress: 'They're waiting for us to die' - Day school pupils still await redress for abuse

More than 20 years after Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe began her legal battle through the Irish courts seeking to establish the State’s vicarious liability for her personal injuries as a result of the abuse she suffered in her day school, survivors are still waiting on redress

Louise O'Keeffe who was the victim of sexual abuse pictured outside Dunderrow National School, Kinsale, Co. Cork. She won a landmark ruling at the European Court of Human Rights to establish the State’s vicarious liability for her personal injuries as a result of the abuse she suffered in her national school. Photo: Dan Linehan

Up to July 2019, a redress scheme for those abused in schools prior to 1992 was closed to applicants because of a ‘prior complaint’ criteria. Since then a  Government review of the scheme has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some survivors are concerned that redress for survivors of Mother and Baby Homes will be handled in the same way as redress for school survivors.