Survivors of child sexual abuse in schools, who had been denied access to a State redress scheme, are in line for compensation following a ruling by an independent assessor. Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill has ruled the State misinterpreted a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) thus denying them access to a redress scheme to which they were entitled. In 2017, the then minister for education Richard Bruton appointed Mr Justice O’Neill to review cases that were deemed ineligible for redress by the State Claims Agency (SCA). The State had required survivors to have established a “prior complaint” against their abuser to be entitled to the scheme. Mr Justice O’Neill ruled this was compatible with the ECHR judgement.

Source: The Irish Times July 08, 2019 20:15 UTC