European Court to hear abuse case against the State

Full text available at http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0714/1224320063062.html

A woman who was sexually abused as an eight-year-old by her teacher has been told by the European Court of Human Rights that it will hear her appeal against an Irish Supreme Court decision that the State was not legally liable for the abuse she suffered.

The mother of two, Ms. Louise O’ Keefe, from west Cork, had sued the Department of Education over abuse she suffered at the hands of teacher Leo Hickey at Dunderrow National School in Co Cork in the early 1970s, but the High Court in 2006 and Supreme Court in 2009 ruled the State was not liable.

Her solicitor lodged appeal papers against the Supreme Court decision in 2009  outlining her arguments for appeal with the European Court of Human Rights.

However, the State opposed the admission of the case before the European Court.

The State argued that as Ms. O’ Keefe had failed to sue the bishop, who was patron of Dunderrow National School and owned it through trustees, Ms O’Keeffe was precluded from claiming she had exhausted all her legal remedies in Ireland.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Ms O’Keeffe was entitled to choose from a number of domestic remedies in Ireland to address her grievance and that because she opted to sue the State, she was not required to sue the bishop.She chose to pursue to the Supreme Court an action alleging State responsibility for the abuse on the basis of vicarious liability and the court considered this was a reasonable choice. The judges pointed out that Ms O’Keeffe’s case was a lead case in Ireland and the eventual outcome could not have been said to be clearly foreseeable and if successful would have involved a finding of State responsibility and award of damages against it.

The outcome of this case will be followed closely as after the original Supreme Court judgment, over 200 other abuse victims dropped or postponed their actions.

Her solicitor commented on  the decision by the European Court to admit the case for hearing and remarked on how it was highly significant in that it did not accept the State’s arguments that Ms O’Keeffe had failed to exhaust all legal remedies in Ireland.

If Ms. O’ Keefe was successful in her case, it might lead to a raft of appeals from abuse victims in similar situations who have been denied compensation or remedies from the state as it was thought that the abuse occurred in church -  run or independent schools and was not the responsibility of the state.

At Brophy Solicitors, we note the importance of this decision. This may have implications for many others who were prevented or did not pursue their action in the past due to fears that they could not be successful due to the Supreme Court decision which had gone before. It may be the case that many of these people may be finally able to get the justice that they deserve.

Brophy Solicitors

16.07.12