DUNDERROW (IRELAND)
RTE [Dublin, Ireland]
June 23, 2026
By Ailbhe Conneely
In the late 1990s gardaí in Cork took statements from former pupils who had attended Dunderrow National School.
He pleaded guilty to 21 sample charges and was sentenced to three years in jail.
Prior to their garda statements, some victims had never spoken about the sexual abuse and trauma they suffered. Some have not spoken about it since.
Almost 30 years since they gave their statements to gardaí, RTÉ News has been given permission by a number of ‘the Dunderrow Women’, to reveal their contents.
They have commended gardaí for their kindness and empathy at that time.
Graphic content: Some readers may find the following details upsetting
Dunderrow National School was a two-room building located just over 6km west of Kinsale.
Children began their education in one classroom as infants; moving to a second room which catered for third class pupils up to sixth class where they were taught by Leo Hickey.
One woman recalls in her garda statement that she started school at the age of three and moved into the room where the abuse occurred at the age of seven.
Her first recollection of “anything to do with abuse” was when it happened to her.
However, “in hindsight I feel I saw what was happening, but it didn’t register with me until it happened to myself”.
The statement outlines how the abuse started at the beginning of a lesson and mainly lasted the duration. It is described as “systematic” and “all day, everyday”.
“I would estimate that I was abused on average three times weekly over the entire period that I was in (the) room while he taught me.
“I accepted the abuse that happened to me, as part of the day in school…”
One of the women, who believed she was one of the more regular victims, outlined to gardaí what happened if she ended in the room alone with him at break time.
“I remember feeling something hard pressed against the small of my back and I remember wondering what this hard object was. I thought it was something in his pocket.
“This seemed to happen for a long time, but it probably lasted about 10 minutes. I remember wanting to get out to play before the break would be over, so I always thought because of this, the small breaks were longer than what they were meant to be.
“I didn’t realise what he was doing to me was wrong… it was the norm”.
One lunchtime, another woman recalled a hand being put on her shoulder to stay back in the room during the break. She was in fourth class.
She described how efforts were made to abuse her, but she kept pulling away.
“He pressed his lower body against my right thigh/side area. I was aware that there was a hard object against my thigh.
“….I remember ending up with him at the classroom door. He went into the boy’s loo and I went out into the yard.”
Another woman recalled being sexually abused in third and fourth class and to a lesser extent in fifth and sixth class.
She told gardaí about how the teacher would put his hand inside her skirt and into her underwear.
When he finished sexually abusing her, she had a bad feeling about herself and felt uncomfortable.
Another woman remembered answering questions in class during the abuse.
It was not unusual for two girls to be abused at one time.
“Sometimes while abusing me with his right hand, I would see him put his left hand inside the clothes on the lower part of the body of the girl beside me. Again, this could last for the duration of the class,” according to one statement.
Some of the women recalled how they tried to fight back, particularly as they got older and grew aware that what was happening was wrong.
“I automatically put up a barrier or tried to fight him off when he tried to abuse me, but I wasn’t always successful,” according to one.
“…when he’d sit on my desk top I’d slide down from my seat onto the floor, and I’d stay there however long until he’d leave the desk.
“I’d also try blocking him with my hands even though I was afraid of him… and I knew he had a bad temper.
“When I was sitting on my own, I couldn’t slide down away from him because he would put his leg in front of my legs and I wouldn’t be able to move.”
Another woman said she tried to push him away by putting her two hands on his wrist or by pinching him on his hands or twisting the skin on his hands.
“I used to cross my legs and keep my legs clenched close together, but he would put in his hand and force my legs apart.”
The school was mixed sex. The same woman remembered being “conscious of the lads behind me”.
“There was always a struggle going on – shuffling under the desk trying to stop him.”
The boys were also used to protect the girls if they were alone in a desk.
One woman recalled: “…when there was a boy in the class in a seat on his own, I would get him to sit in alongside me and I knew then I was safe for that day. I’d make sure I was on the inside and the boy on the outside.”
Another woman stated that it didn’t matter what she was wearing – whether it was a skirt, a dress, gym slip, trousers or tights – the abuse occurred.
“I remember wearing a vest, a bodice and a jumper but it made no difference.”
Another stated: “It didn’t appear to make any difference what type of clothing I was wearing whether it was a skirt or trousers because I got abused while wearing both.”
The impact on the lives of the women when they became adults is noted in the statements.
One stated: “It took me a long time to overcome this problem. I never spoke to anyone about what happened to me in Dunderrow National School because I felt too ashamed and dirty.”
Another said that apart from her husband, the gardaí were the first told about the abuse she suffered.
“The abuse I suffered in Dunderrow National School caused me a lot of trauma and numerous problems throughout my life.
“I am very protective of my family and I am very distrustful of men in general.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please visit rte.ie/helplines.