Women abused by same principal as Louise O'Keeffe say suing the State is only route to redress

ON 19 DECEMBER 2008, Louise O’Keeffe was left facing a €500,000 legal bill after the Supreme Court rejected her claim that the State bore responsibility for the sexual abuse she suffered at Dunderrow National School.

The abuse was carried out by former principal Leo Hickey, who ran the Kinsale school from 1962 to 1974. He was later convicted in 1998 of 386 sexual offences against 21 former pupils, and served a three-year prison sentence.

“I think it was one of the last days of judicial sittings before Christmas… I remember thinking, my two children are expecting Santa, and I am facing this bill,” O’Keeffe says. “It was horrifying.”

Seven years later, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in her favour, finding that the State had breached her rights by failing to protect her.

The judgment led to the creation of redress schemes – one launched in 2015, and another in 2021 – that many school sexual abuse victims were excluded from due to strict eligibility criteria. 

The 2015 scheme was limited to applicants who had previously initiated and discontinued legal proceedings against the State, and in some cases required evidence of a prior complaint of abuse. The 2021 scheme required applicants to have issued proceedings against the State by 1 July 2021. 

Today, a group of 19 women, ranging in age from 61 to their mid 70s, say they may have to sue the State to access redress for abuse they suffered at Dunderrow National School when they were children.

One of the women told The Journal:

“We don’t want to wait on another report. I’m in my 60s, the abuse happened when I was seven-and-a-half years old, and continued for a number of years. He pleaded guilty, and he was found guilty. He served far too short of a sentence, in my opinion. Why do we need another government group to look at this again? What new evidence are they going to find?”

Correspondence seen by The Journal shows the State is refusing to establish a payment mechanism that would allow the women to access €84,000 each in redress — the amount awarded to survivors under the second O’Keeffe scheme.

The solicitor representing the group wrote to Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton in April.

They put forth that the government has settled “at least 40 legal actions taken by survivors as it is unable to defend its position in the Irish courts”.

The letter argued that it is “unconscionable” that Ireland is “re-traumatising” abuse survivors by forcing them to engage in unnecessary litigation.

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In a reply dated 28 April, Naughton said she is responsible for the education system as a whole and must manage it “within the limited resources of the State”.

She pointed to the establishment of the Commission of Investigation, which is examining how historical child sexual abuse was handled and which may sit for up to five years. 

Naughton also asked the women to await the findings of a separate Inter-Departmental Group examining future redress options, which is not due to report until May 2027.

‘It was every class, and it was relentless’

Dunderrow National School was a small-whitewashed building in rural Cork, outside Kinsale.

“It was a two-room school. That’s probably hard to visualise in today’s world, but that’s all it had – just two rooms. Junior infants to second class was in the first room, and the second room was for third, fourth, fifth and sixth class. We were in that room for four years,” the woman who spoke to The Journal said. 

She said that she endured and witnessed horrific abuse from the time that she moved into the school’s second classroom. 

“It was every class, it was every day, it was relentless. Whether you were sat in the seat in class, whether you were standing up at the top of the class, if you got sick and needed to go outside for fresh air, if you were sent to an outdoor shed, if you were in the corridor, if you were in the bathroom. No room was safe,” she said. 

She said that she and the other 18 women seeking redress have waited long enough for the State to acknowledge what they endured. 

“We need a culture change in Ireland where we tilt the balance in favour of survivors. We shouldn’t have to try so hard to get justice,” she added. 

Watching O’Keeffe take her case all the way to Strasbourg was at times difficult for her. 

“I have huge admiration for Louise. She was on her own, and the bravery was just phenomenal, but when the Irish courts found against her, that was hard, because it felt like the legal system was letting all of us down,” she said.

She added that a number of women in the group applied for both of the redress schemes, but were deemed ineligible as they did not meet the criteria. 

“What is the point in having a redress scheme if survivors cannot access it?,” she said. 

The woman added that the group is determined to pursue redress, even if it means a legal battle. 

There is a determination and a strength in our group that means if we have to go to the High Court, we will. I gave a commitment back in 1997 when I gave my statement to gardaí, and in 1998 when I went to court, that I would stand beside the other women, and I did. I feel the exact same way today.

“I’m going to fight this, because it’s not just about us, it’s about carrying a message of hope to all the survivors out there,” she said. 

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Patricia Carey, the government-appointed special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse, said the treatment of the Dunderrow women represents “another example of creating a hierarchy of abuses”.

“The refusal of the government to put in place a proper redress scheme” for survivors from Dunderrow National School was “appalling”, she said.

“My understanding is that the government set aside €31 million to provide redress in the second scheme, but only around a third of that was paid out because it was so difficult to qualify for.”

It is understood that the total amount being sought by the group is less than €2 million.

Conor O’Mahony, dean of the school of law at University College Cork, said the women were abused “in the same school by the same teacher as Louise O’Keeffe, in circumstances the ECtHR has already found to violate the right to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment”.

O’Mahony said they should receive the same compensation as O’Keeffe, “appropriately adjusted for inflation”.

O’Keeffe knows what it means to take on the State, and she plans to support these 19 women in their campaign. 

“When the State is fighting women – and they fought me aggressively – they are putting adults who are fighting for the little child that they once were, who was abused, in a position where they are made to feel that they have done something wrong. That they are wrong in pursuing redress. And they are not,” she said.

“I had the support of these women when I was going through that. It is only right that I would support them now, and I will, I will walk beside them 100% of the way.

“They were not attending school to be sexually abused, and let down by the State,” O’Keeffe added. 

A Department of Education spokesperson said the government is “very conscious” of the trauma experienced by survivors, but that it cannot comment on cases that may be subject to litigation.

They added Ireland had implemented a range of measures following the O’Keeffe judgment, and pointed to ongoing government work examining future redress options, with a report due by May 2027.

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