Supreme Court challenge seen as test case [educationmatters.ie]
- Published: 27 April 2011
The challenge is being regarded as a test case by other victims of abuse in similar circumstances.
Cork mother-of-two, Ms O’Keeffe, has lodged papers with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the ruling that the state was not legally liable for the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a primary school teacher at Dunderrow National School, near Kinsale, in 1973.
Her challenge is on the basis that the state is vicariously liable for the abuse at the hands of school principal, Leo Hickey, whom she argues was an employee of the Department of Education.
Ms O’Keeffe contends that the state has breached a number of articles of the European Convention on Human Rights through its failure to have a structure to protect children in national schools from abuse and to protect her from being subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment.
Full Story: www.educationmatters.ie
