An amendment to the law on time limits for legal actions over child sex abuse would assist victims of historic abuse in schools across the State in obtaining redress, a senior lawyer has said.
Solicitor James MacGuill, who has represented several survivors of child sexual abuse, noted the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 2000 previously provided for proceedings over child abuse to be issued within 12 months of the passage of that Act.
If a similar amendment was enacted in the wake of the report of the Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools run by Religious Orders, that would be a practical step in assisting survivors in seeking redress, he said.
The standard of proof for redress is the civil standard of the balance of probabilities and, since 2021, the Department of Education has adopted a flexible approach to redress and has been “very open and co-operative”, Mr MacGuill said.
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For years prior to that, the department placed “many obstacles” in the way of those seeking redress under an ex-gratia scheme established in 2015, he said.
After a High Court judge, Iarfhlaith O’Neill, who was appointed to independently review the scheme, found its conditions placed an excessive burden on applicants, a second scheme was established in July 2021.
Under the first scheme, no redress payments were made. Under the second, 130 people received compensation payments of €84,000, totalling some €11 million.
The €84,000 compensation was based on a sum awarded to child sexual abuse survivor Louise O’Keeffe, who successfully took the State to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) 10 years ago over its failure to protect her from being abused in 1973 by a lay teacher, Leo Hickey, in Dunderrow national school in Cork.
The ECHR found the State was obliged to protect children in State-run schools and awarded Ms O’Keeffe €30,000 damages, plus costs, against the State. She got a separate award of €54,000 against the State from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal.
Mr MacGuill said he believed a legislative amendment to the statute of limitations would assist such applicants. While many victims who received redress under the 2021 scheme were victims of convicted abusers, the solicitor said he is aware redress was paid to some without a guilty verdict against their alleged abuser, representing more flexibility in the State’s attitude.
Prof Conor O’Mahony, director of the Child Law Project at University College Cork and former special rapporteur on child protection to the government, said a redress scheme could, and should, be run in tandem with a commission of investigation into child sexual abuse in schools.
Although the Central Statistics Office has estimated some 40,000 people had potentially been exposed to sexual abuse in schools, it was “fantastical” to think anything like that number of claims would be advanced, he considered.
While there is “little doubt” the religious orders could make more generous contributions to redress, seeking to make them legally accountable for the abuse would see the State entering “uncharted territory”, he said.
Solicitor Ernest Cantillon, who represented Louise O’Keeffe in her actions against Hickey and the State, said he represents clients who have suffered every type of injury but was particularly struck by the huge and lasting impact of child sexual abuse.
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