Abuse victim secures public apology from Christian Brothers in landmark High Court case

The Congregation of the Christian Brothers has given a public apology and settled a High Court claim taken by a man who was sexually abused in a Dublin school in the 1980s.

The development marks the end of a complicated legal action, started in 2019, by plaintiff Ken Grace. He had to make multiple applications to the court and seek a number of judgments.

The most notable of these, made by Ms Justice Niamh Hyland in 2021, related to the suing of unincorporated associations such as religious congregations.

A key issue in the case was the congregation’s decision not to appoint a nominee to represent the Christian Brothers in a case where Mr Grace wished to sue the brothers vicariously for the abuse he suffered at the hands of Paul Hendrick, a former principal of Westland Row Christian Brothers School in Dublin. Hendrick is currently serving a prison sentence for the abuse.

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Most religious congregations are unincorporated associations and appoint a nominee for the purposes of litigation. Because the Christian Brothers chose not to select a nominee, Mr Grace had to sue around 120 Christian Brothers individually as part of his case, including the current Provincial of the European Province, Bro David Gibson, and his predecessor, Bro Edmund Garvey.

Last month, Colm Condon SC, counsel for brothers Gibson and Garvey, told the court that no defence was being entered in the case and that solicitors, Frank Buttimer and Co, who represented the two brothers in their personal capacities, were willing to go into mediation on behalf of all the defendants in the case, most of whom had not entered an appearance and had been the subject of judgments in default.

On Friday, Mr Justice Tony O’Connor was told that the matter had been settled at mediation and that costs could be awarded on consent against Bro Gibson and Bro Garvey. Mr Condon then read out an apology.

“David Gibson, Province Leader on behalf of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, unreservedly apologises and regrets the numerous instances of abuse suffered by Kenneth Grace at the hands of Paul Hendrick,” it said. “He further acknowledges that Kenneth Grace suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Paul Hendrick and acknowledges the pain and suffering that Kenneth Grace has suffered as a result of the said abuses.”

No settlement figure was disclosed. The congregation has adopted the same legal strategy in relation to a number of historic sex abuse claims currently before the courts. Mr Grace’s case is the first to lead to a public apology since the congregation adopted its controversial legal strategy.

Mr Grace, who was in court, was represented in the case by John Gordon SC, Gabriel Gavigan SC, Andrew Nugent BL, instructed by Philip Treacy of Coleman Legal.