On 6 March, Louise O’ Keeffe began her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against a decision by the Supreme Court that the State was not legally liable for the abuse she suffered as a child . Ms O’Keeffe was abused as an eight-year-old in 1973 at Dunderrow Primary School, Cork, by then principal Leo Hickey.
Ms O'Keeffe sued the State, claiming the Department of Education was vicariously liable for the abuse she suffered as it paid the teacher’s wages, supervised the curriculum and inspected the classrooms. The State contested the action arguing it was not liable since the school had an independent board of management. Both the High Court and the Supreme Court found that liability lay with the school’s board of management since it decided which teachers were to be employed. The Supreme Court ruled that she should not be held liable for the legal costs (estimated at approximately 75,000) as there were “exceptional circumstances” for her taking the case in the first place.
Ms O’Keeffe appealed her case to the ECtHR. The State tried to stop Ms O’Keeffe’s application to Strasbourg, arguing her failure to sue the Diocese of Cork and Ross, which owned the school, showed she didn’t exhaust legal avenues in the Irish Court system. Bulletin readers may remember that the Irish Human Rights Commission was granted leave by the Court to make a third party intervention and made a written submission to the Court in September 2011.
In June 2012, a Chamber of the Court declared the case partly admissible and also decided the case was sufficiently important to refer to the Grand Chamber of the Court.
Ms O’Keeffe was represented in Strasbourg by David Holland SC before the 17 judges of the Court. Mr Holland opened with a 30-minute presentation before the State’s representative, Feichín McDonagh SC, replied with a 30-minute presentation. The judges proceeded to ask Counsel a number of questions which were responded to by both sides in two 10-minute summaries.
If successful, this lawsuit could spark further claims from people denied compensation because abuse occurred in church-run or independent schools. The Department of Education may potentially have to settle over 200 other abuse victim’s compensation claims as the State would be deemed to have had an oversight role.
Commenting on the proceedings, Ms O’Keefe said “It will be that rights will come right and the wrongs will be punished, and I’d hope the European courts will see my case for what it is and give me the judgment that is right – not just for me, but for every child that has been abused within the school system in Ireland.”
The Strasbourg Court will deliver its verdict at a later date.
Click here to view a video of the proceedings
Click here to read an article by the Irish Examiner, here to read an article from the Irish independent and here to read an RTE news article.