Louise O'Keeffe: State had inherent obligation to protect pupils from abuse

THE European Court of Human Rights has found in favour of an Irish woman who sought to hold the State liable for sexual abuse she suffered at a Catholic-run primary school in 1973.

In a landmark judgement, the court awarded damages and costs of over €100,000 to Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe. She — along with 20 other schoolgirls — had been sexually abused by her school principal as a nine-year old girl at Dunderrow National School near Kinsale.

Ms O’Keeffe, 49, took the case to the European Court after the Irish Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the State was not liable for her suffering because the school had been run by an independent board under Catholic Church patronage.