IRELAND
Irish Times
The State has asked the High Court to strike out a decision permitting it to be sued, along with the Christian Brothers, by three alleged sexual abuse victims following a European court ruling in the landmark Louise O’Keeffe case.
In January 2014, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Ms O’Keeffe’s rights under the European Convention of Human Rights 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 (48) had previously lost High and Supreme Court cases which found the State could not be held vicariously, or separately, liable for the abuse as the school was not operated and managed directly by the State but by an independent board of management.
Won action
Ms O’Keeffe, who won her action against the abuser, had 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.
Following the European decision in her case, three men, who had damages actions pending against teachers and the two Christian Brothers’ schools where those teachers taught, successfully applied to have the Minister for Education and the State joined as defendants in their cases.
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.