Commission writes to the Council of Europe’s supervisory body for the 9th time in relation to the State’s ongoing failure to comply with the judgment of European Court of Human Rights judgment in O’Keeffe v. Ireland due to the lack of a fair and effective redress system for abuse survivors
In 2014, at the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’) in Strasbourg, Louise O’Keeffe won her case against Ireland for its failure to protect her from the sexual abuse that she suffered at the hands of her teacher while a pupil at Dunderrow National School, West Cork, in the 1970s.
A consequence of the Strasbourg judgment was the legal obligation placed on Ireland to introduce a redress scheme for people who were subjected to sexual abuse in State-funded schools before the State’s introduction of child protection measures in the early 1990s.
Despite numerous apologies to victims, the Irish government continues its failure to implement the 2014 O’Keeffe v Ireland judgment. This is due to its failure to introduce a redress scheme that reflects and respects the ECtHR judgment. To date, the State’s approach to the provision of redress to survivors of sexual abuse in schools has been discriminatory and arbitrary.
The Commission’s most recent report to the Council of Europe highlights that there is now no redress scheme available to survivors of sexual abuse in schools, whose cases fall within the terms of the O’Keeffe judgment.
The Commission states that it is of grave concern that the Irish government has made no real commitment to abuse survivors to provide them with fair access to redress, to compensate for its failure to protect them – something that has been lacking for over a decade.
The Commission notes the State’s intention to establish a Commission of Investigation into abuse in some schools (i.e. those run by religious orders), but it expresses grave concerns that this proposal may further delay the provision of redress by the State to survivors. There is no reason why State redress cannot be paid now.
The State’s failure to provide a fair system of redress to abuse survivors is demonstrated in sharp focus by the experience of schoolmates of Louise O’Keeffe, women who also attended Dunderrow National School (the ‘Dunderrow women’). Like Louise O’Keeffe, these women were sexually abused by the same paedophile teacher.
The Dunderrow women are known to the State for decades because, like Louise O’Keeffe, many of them provided statements to the Garda Síochána – the very statements that led to prosecution and conviction of their abuser. However, due to the discriminatory and flawed pre-conditions imposed by the State’s two redress schemes to date, they were not eligible for redress.
Lawyers from the Commission now represent a number of the Dunderrow women and, on 5 December 2024, they wrote on the women’s behalf to the Minister for Education seeking redress. To date, the Minister for Education has not responded.
The Commission is concerned that the intransigence of the Irish Government will force the Dunderrow women and other survivors to take legal proceedings in order to vindicate their rights under O’Keeffe v. Ireland, leading to further stress, and retraumatisation. As of 30 January 2024, the State indicated that 40 payments of compensation equivalent to redress payments have been paid by the State in settlement of litigation to persons coming within the terms of O’Keeffe v. Ireland.
The Commission calls on the Irish Government to introduce, without any further delay, a fair and accessible scheme that provides redress to survivors in accordance with the Grand Chamber judgment, that is to say a new redress scheme that:
- Complies fully with the O’Keeffe v. Ireland judgment;
- Does not include unreasonable or arbitrary conditions for admission to redress;
- Avoids further re-traumatising of survivors;
- Is made available immediately – i.e. a Commission of Investigation or other mechanisms/investigations etc. cannot delay redress; and
- Recognises the stand-alone responsibility of the State to survivors.
Chief Commissioner Liam Herrick said:
“It has been over 11 years since Louise O’Keeffe won her landmark judgment in the ECtHR and it is unconscionable that survivors are still fighting for redress.
It has now been 16 months since the State provided a substantive update to the Council of Europe in relation to their compliance with the ECtHR judgment in O’Keeffe v. Ireland.”
“The practical effect of the State’s delay and denial of redress to survivors of sexual abuse in schools will likely be to force survivors, including the Dunderrow women and others, to take legal proceedings to vindicate their rights. These proceedings are unnecessary and retraumatising for survivors and, in recent years, the State has been unable to defend them but has persisted in requiring survivors to commence legal action to vindicate their rights. It is time for the State to do the right thing and introduce a fair and accessible redress scheme.”
ENDS/