(IRELAND)
Irish Times [Dublin, Ireland]
June 23, 2026
By Órla Ryan
Nineteen women ‘forced to sue State’ to get redress for historical child sexual abuse at Cork school
Sarah* was just seven years old when the abuse began.
“I thought this was normal schooling, I hadn’t a clue,” she says of her treatment at the hands of Leo Hickey, the former principal of Dunderrow National School in west Co Cork.
In 1998 Hickey was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment having pleaded guilty to 21 sample counts from 387 charges of sexually abusing 21 young girls – including Sarah – between 1964 and 1973.
In 2017 Hickey was jailed again for sexually abusing a nine-year-old boy in a different school in the 1990s.
The abuse in the Dunderrow school, Sarah says, was “systemic, all day, every day”. The assaults would sometimes take place in front of other children.
“You weren’t safe anywhere in that school … not the bathroom, not the outdoor shed, not the classroom.”
Now in her 60s, Sarah is one of 19 women planning to take legal action against the State over its failure to pay them redress for the abuse they suffered. Most of the 19 women were witnesses for the prosecution in the 1998 court case.
One of Hickey’s victims, Louise O’Keeffe, received compensation in 2014 after a long-running legal battle against the State culminated in a victory at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
However, others who were abused were excluded from two previous redress schemes as they did not meet the strict criteria required to apply.
Sarah says redress “isn’t about the money”, but it “symbolises acknowledgment”. She says the exclusion of many from schemes could prevent other survivors of childhood sexual abuse from coming forward.
“It’s sending out a very bad and very negative message to others in similar circumstances, that we have to fight tooth and nail for this.”
O’Keeffe brought a case for damages through the Irish courts, but the Supreme Court ruled that the Department of Education was not liable because the school was under the management of the Catholic church, even though the State paid Hickey’s salary.
In 2014 O’Keeffe was vindicated when the ECtHR ruled that Ireland had failed to protect her as a child.
Following that ruling, O’Keeffe received €84,000 in compensation and the then government set up an ex gratia redress scheme where applicants had to demonstrate that their abuse followed a prior complaint against their abuser.
This scheme collapsed in 2019 when a review found that elements of it were incompatible with the Strasbourg ruling.
[ Abuse survivor calls for inquiry into Leo Hickey caseOpens in new window ]
A revised iteration of the scheme operated in 2021-2023. However, many survivors were still ineligible due to a condition that required applicants to have sued the State before July 2021.
O’Keeffe (61) says it is “disgraceful” that the State is “forcing” the other women to take legal action.
“It really is just mind-boggling that girls who were abused in the same school as me, by the same abuser, are not being offered the redress,” she says. “They were young innocent girls when they were sexually abused.”
Prof Conor O’Mahony, director of the Child Law Clinic at University College Cork, says the 19 women face an uphill battle in the Irish courts because – even though O’Keeffe won her case at the ECtHR – she previously lost her case in the Supreme Court. The latter will be the “controlling precedent” in any future legal action in the State.
“You’re forcing people to take on litigation in the Irish courts, which actually, technically speaking, they cannot win if it goes all the way to a final judgment,” he says.
“You’re forcing them to take that on in some sort of vague hope that there might be a settlement offered along the way, and that it won’t be forced all the way to a final judgment.”
Sarah acknowledges that she and the other women face an uphill battle. “That’s a risk we’re going to have to take.”
The women, who are being represented by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), say they feel compelled to take legal action as mediation attempts with the Department of Education have failed.
The Government last year established a commission of investigation into the handling of historical child sexual abuse in schools. As part of this process, an interdepartmental group (IDG) is examining how any future redress schemes would be funded.
In a letter sent to the IHREC’s legal team on April 28th, Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton asked the organisation to await the outcome of the IDG’s work, which is due to be completed next May.
In a letter dated June 12th a solicitor with the IHREC invited Naughton “to enter into mediation with our clients with a view to resolving their claim against the State”.
If a “satisfactory response” is not received by July 3rd, legal proceedings will be initiated, the letter said.
In a statement the IHREC said a commission of investigation, or any other process, “cannot displace or postpone the State’s obligation to implement the binding [ECtHR] judgment”, adding that survivors who fall within the scope of that judgment “are entitled to redress now”.
It said the State has “forced survivors to take legal proceedings in order to vindicate their rights, leading to further unnecessary stress and re-traumatisation”.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “Government is very conscious of the ongoing impact of the trauma experienced by survivors of abuse. However, the Department cannot comment on individual or specific cases which may be the subject of potential litigation.”
Sarah believes the Government “wish” she and the other women would “go away”, but she says they will not.
“I think they’re afraid we’re going to open the floodgates but, you know what, bring it on – we’ll open the floodgates.”
*Name changed to protect anonymity