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Call for abuse redress scheme ‘right now’

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has called on the Government to quickly set up a redress scheme providing compensation from the State of €84,000 to survivors of sexual abuse in schools.

The body was responding to the publication of the Report of the Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools Run by Religious Orders.

IHREC said that the report recorded “harrowing experiences of sexual abuse suffered by thousands of children in schools across Ireland over decades”.

‘Responsibility’

In a statement, the commission said that the State bore “significant responsibility” for the abuse suffered historically by children in schools.

“This has been clear, as a matter of law, since 2014, when Louise O’Keeffe won her case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg,” it stated.

The court ruled that the State had breached O’Keeffe’s human rights, and awarded her €84,000 in compensation from the State.

Obligations

In its statement, the commission noted comments from the Government that it had a moral obligation to ensure justice for abuse survivors and redress.

“In fact, there is an ECtHR judgment requiring the State, for the past ten years, to accept its part of the responsibility for failing to protect children from sexual abuse in schools over decades, and to provide redress – right now – in line with its legal obligations under the O’Keeffe judgment,” IHREC stated.

IHREC also welcomed the scoping inquiry’s recommendations on other forms of restorative justice for abuse survivors.

It added, however, that any restorative-justice programme must be available to all survivors, and must not repeat what it described as “the State’s past mistake of imposing arbitrary and discriminatory pre-conditions on access”.