Campaigner calls on state to release all files in relation to sex abuse in schools

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09-07-2025

Campaigner Louise O'Keefe has called on the State to release all files in relation to sex abuse in schools to the Commission of Investigation into allegations of historical sexual abuse in schools announced by the Minister for Education on Tuesday.
Ms O'Keefe also said it was 'past time' that the investigation had been set up as the O'Keefe Judgement had been in place since 2014.
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Speaking on RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland Ms O'Keefe, who had to take her case to the European Court of Justice when Irish courts ruled that the State could not be held responsible for the abuse she suffered in primary school, said she was anxious that State bodies be investigated into how 'they did and did not handle claims.'
"The Government itself must also be included, she added. 'They must be investigated as well because we have the O'Keeffe judgment in place since January of 2014, that's 11 and a half years ago, and it has not yet been fully implemented. It is hugely important because there has been a delay of 11 and half years.
"But yet we do know that back as early as 1941 that the state were aware at that stage of the fact that sexual abuse was happening in our day schools.'
It was essential that files within the Department of Education be released as many of the older schools would have closed and the abusers would have died and many cases had not been handled correctly, she said.
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"It was extremely important that the new Commission of Investigation be survivor-led with a non-adversarial approach.
'The survivors have not been heard, they have always been sort of pushed to the background, we don't see, we do not hear, we don't speak of it.
"They (State) basically didn't want to know. And again we know that because of the lack of the implementation of the O'Keeffe judgment from the European Court of Human Rights.'
Ms O'Keefe pointed out that a redress scheme was already in place following the O'Keefe judgement in the European Court of Human Rights. 'The European Court found that the state had a responsibility for the sexual abuse of the children in the schools.'
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The religious orders must also be held accountable for the schools that the religious order ran, she said.
'But the state cannot delay the redress to all pupils waiting for the religious orders to be sorted because of the fact that not all of the schools were run by religious orders. It's important that they do not sideline some schools while they're waiting for other schools.
'The state has a responsibility. The scheme is in place and they have made that payment there of 84,000 for the survivors.
"They must keep going with that, they must open up that, and parallel with that. They can then also organise a redress payment for those who were abused in the religious run schools, but they cannot combine it.'
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Lessons learned
The special rapporteur on child protection, human rights lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher, has welcomed the terms of reference of the Commission of Investigation into allegations of historical sexual abuse in schools across the country.
Ms Gallagher told RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland that the terms of reference would suggest 'that lessons have been learned from what's gone wrong before.
'For example, paragraph 11 in the terms of reference is very detailed about survivor engagement. It sets out there must be clear communication and transparency, allowing survivors to make informed choices as to whether to engage with the commission.
'There's got to be support for survivors at key stages of the process and support for those with additional needs to enable them to access the process. And there's got to be a trauma-informed approach. And also critically it says there's got to be practical steps to mitigate the risks of re-traumatisation in consultation with survivors and expert advice.
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'So right from the outset I was very pleased to see that and I hope some lessons are being learned from the horrendous experience that many survivors went through in other recent investigations including of course in relation to the Grace report where they described the process itself being re-traumatising and the process itself being adversarial and not being trauma-informed.'
Ms Gallagher also welcomed the 'sampling' approach of the Commission. This was more realistic, she said.
'That means there's an initial survey where they look at a very wide range of examples. Now obviously, when they're looking at handling by schools and related entities of abuse between 1927 and 2013, that's a huge period of time. And sadly, as we know, there were many, many thousands of children abused over that period of times.
"And if they were to look in depth into each and every one of those allegations, the inquiry would never be done. So, what they are doing is they are going to have a kind of sampling approach, which means they'll look at, in more depth, at particular examples, whether it's a category of school, a particular time period, a geographic location, to give them a sense.
'So, you have the combination of the broad, where you look at everything that comes in, and then you have some deep dives into particular contexts. And that's something that we know worked well in the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales.
"It's also something we know worked well in the Royal Commissions in Canada and Australia. And they had much broader remits. They were looking at child sexual abuse in general, and then they had this kind of sampling approach where they looked at particular topics. So I welcome that as a methodology.
"It's sensible and it's worked elsewhere, and critically it enables a report to come out. Because the other key thing is, of course, they've said interim reports within two years. Again, something I'm very pleased to see.'
Ms Gallagher added that she hoped Ireland would not have a statute of limitations of when people had to come forward to report abuse. Sadly many people may not have felt they could come forward before now, they should not be told there was a time frame within which they came forward.
'That's why we've seen in the last number of years in a number of countries internationally getting rid of their statute of limitations in relation to child sexual abuse. And I hope that's something that Ireland does too.
'The Commission is tasked with looking at the impacts upon survivors and the Commission's also tasked with learnings for the future for child protection. Now, that's very important because, of course, the Commission will also feed in to this process.
"But I know that many people listening, including many of those who came forward to the scoping inquiry and told their harrowing stories, but many who also have not felt comfortable coming forward yet, I know many people who are listening will want to know how can they get redress of some kind sooner rather than later.
"So I hope this is something that's addressed in the interim report and that's addressed at pace by government.'