MINISTER FOR Education and Science Batt O’Keeffe said yesterday that the Government would vigorously defend any action in the European Court of Human Rights by Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe over sexual abuse she suffered as a primary school pupil.
Mr O’Keeffe said he felt great sympathy for Ms O’Keeffe over what she suffered as an eight-year-old at the hands of teacher Leo Hickey, but said he had to protect the taxpayer.
“Our hearts goes out to Louise O’Keeffe. She’s a Cork girl and one is just mesmerised by the suffering that she has been put through. It is obviously her right, if she feels that she has a case to take to the European Court,” he said.
However, “ . . . we did not have a responsibility because we were not aware, and the management of the school, including the hiring and firing of teachers, is a function for the board of management”.
Asked whether he was not being hypocritical in expressing sympathy for Ms O’Keeffe while insisting the Government would contest any action she took in the European Court, Mr O’Keeffe replied: “But what am I going to do? Am I going to leave every solicitor in the State who feels they have to take a case to be overcome by the humanity you feel for the person whom you feel has been so wronged?”
Mr O’Keeffe said he could not “write a blank cheque for every solicitor who decides and advises a client to take a case”, irrespective of his sympathy for Ms O’Keeffe.
