IRELAND
RTE News
Lawyers for the State have asked the High Court to strike out a decision that it can be sued, along with the Christian Brothers, by three alleged sexual abuse victims following a European court ruling in the landmark Louise O’Keefe case.
Two years ago the European Court of Human Rights ruled Ms O’Keeffe’s rights under the European Convention had been breached by the failure of the State to protect her from abuse by her school teacher, Leo Hickey, in the 1970s.
Ms O’Keeffe had previously lost High and Supreme Court cases which found the State could not be held liable for the abuse as the school was not operated and managed directly by the State but by an independent board of management.
Ms O’Keeffe, who won her action against the abuser, argued the State, as the payer of the teacher’s salary and supervisor of other matters related to the school, was also responsible. The Supreme Court disagreed.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.