Liam Herrick

Helen McEntee, the minister for education and youth, yesterday said she was examining the issue of financial redress following the final report of a scoping inquiry into allegations of historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders.

She said the government would look into “how any future scheme could be funded” and said she would consider “potential levers that can be brought to bear to secure funding from those responsible for sexual abuse”.

However, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission today said that the State has a standalone legal responsibility to provide redress regardless of the “legal and moral responsibility owed by religious orders to individual survivors”.

It pointed to the 2014 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the O’Keeffe v Ireland case, which established that the State has a positive duty to take steps to protect children from abuse and to provide an effective remedy for those who have suffered sexual abuse in Irish schools.

Chief commissioner Liam Herrick said: “Despite expressions of sympathy and contrition by each of the Taoisigh that have been in office since 2014, the legal and administrative steps taken by their successive governments have consistently frustrated victims’ rights.

“The practical effect of the State’s delay and denial of redress to survivors of sexual abuse in schools forces elderly survivors to take legal proceedings to vindicate their rights.

“It is crucial that the government ceases its delays and immediately complies with the rule of law and the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights and opens a fair and accessible redress scheme that — finally — provides redress to survivors.”