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	Abuse Victim Will Not Lose Her Home, Says Taoiseach By Michael O'Regan One in Four [Ireland] March 29, 2007 http://www.oneinfour.org/news/news2007/herhome/ Taoiseach Bertie Ahern again insisted that abuse victim Louise O'Keeffe will not lose her house as the State pursues her for €500,000 in legal costs. Ms O'Keeffe, from Cork, is facing the bill after the High Court decided last year that the State was not responsible for the sexual abuse she suffered as a national school student in the 1970s. Mr Ahern said that he could not comment on the details of the case, which had been appealed to the Supreme Court, adding that he had made it clear last March that the Government had asked the State Claims Agency, the statutory body that deals with legal fees, to approach the issue of costs in a measured and sensitive way. "The agency informed Ms O'Keeffe's solicitor at the time, and on the record, that while the same arrangements would have to be made in respect of costs, there was no question whatsoever of her losing her house, which was the issue." He said her solicitor had informed the agency that she intended to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said that under the Constitution, the State had a duty to provide for people's education. "In addition, teachers are paid out of the public purse and the Department of Education and Science sets down the curriculum, pays capitation grants and provides buildings." Mr Ahern said he had stated on many occasions that he sympathised greatly with those who were subjected to abuse in schools and in places in which they should have felt safe and protected. "While I feel deeply sorry for the victims, the courts have found that the State was not liable in this regard," he said. Meanwhile, in an adjournment debate, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin told Labour's education spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan that the education system had long been structured on the basis that schools were sponsored by religious and other patrons. They were run by local management on their behalf, in the form of the school manager or nowadays the board of management, in whom legal responsibility was vested. Ms O'Sullivan urged the Government "to review its decision to deny liability for the shocking sexual abuse of children in State primary schools".
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