BishopAccountability.org
	Child Abuse in Schools: Government Must Accept Responsibilty One in Four [Ireland] March 24, 2007 http://www.oneinfour.org/news/news2007/mustaccept/ The idea of a child being sexually abused by their teacher is every parent's nightmare. And while the risk may be minimal, for all that, judging by the evidence on last night's Prime Time investigation, the possibility of a boy or girl being abused in the classroom is real. In the aftermath of the programme, parents who serve on boards of management at the country's 3,300 primary schools could be forgiven for reconsidering their positions. From the evidence presented by Mary Raftery, who rocked the system in the States of Fear exposé of widespread abuse of children in State institutions, it is patently clear that boards of management could now end up being sued by the victims of predatory teachers. The legal anachronism behind this alarming scenario is that primary teachers are employed by the school and not by the State, even though it pays the wages of the country's 25,000 primary teachers. Some 95% of primary schools are being run on behalf of the local bishop and most boards of management are still chaired by the local priest. Effectively, the Government denies having any responsibility for the safety of nearly 450,000 school children who most parents probably imagine are under its care. To date, 15 teachers have been convicted on charges of sexually abusing school children. In some instances, when the abuse came to light, the teachers in question were simply moved on to another school where they could continue to prey on innocent children. What is now clear is that the Department of Education is nowhere to be seen in terms of having a regulatory or supervisory role with regard to primary school children. The public's attention was first drawn to this vexed issue by the High Court case involving sex abuse victim Louise O'Keeffe, which failed to prove that the Department of Education bore responsibility for the abuse she suffered at the hands of her former school principal. Ms O'Keeffe, who was abused when she was eight years old, is taking a Supreme Court appeal against the High Court ruling, which left her facing an estimated €500,000 bill for legal costs. At the time, she feared she would have to sell her home to defray the huge costs. But when the Government came under public pressure in reaction to the outcome of that case, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern declared in the Dáil that the State was not seeking to take Ms O'Keeffe's home from her. The Government, he said, had decided to approach the issue of costs in a sympathetic manner. In a disturbing development, however, it now transpires that the State has warned off a number of other victims, telling them that if they persist in taking legal action against the Minister for Education they would be pursued for costs in line with the ruling of the High Court. In effect, the victims are being punished for pursuing the State. The fact that teachers are employed in a private capacity by school boards of management means the State has no responsibility to keep children safe in school. Whatever the legal niceties, there is a perception that the Government is engaging in heavyweight tactics in order to frighten off individuals who were sexually abused by teachers when they were children. This is unconscionable. At a time when the Constitution is being changed to protect the rights of children, let us hope that the Government will accept liability for the abuse of innocent school children at the hands of teachers whose wages are, after all, paid by the State.
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