European court rules that Irish government must compensate abuse victim
January 29, 2014
Overturning a decision by the Supreme Court of Ireland, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Irish government failed to protect a woman from sexual abuse by a lay teacher nearly 40 years ago at a national (public) school administered by the Church.
The court ordered Ireland to pay the woman over $150,000 for damages and legal costs.
The court “found that Ireland's system of detecting and reporting abuse was ineffective in the 1970s, allowing more than 400 incidents of abuse by [the victim’s] former principal and teacher,” the Associated Press reported.
Prime Minister Enda Kelly declined to respond to a call to apologize to the victim, The Irish Times reported.
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Further information:
- European court: Ireland failed in sex abuse case (AP)
- Kenny declines to say if State will apologise to Louise O’Keeffe (The Irish Times)
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