The Government has displayed a staggering lack of empathy by refusing to commit to redress for 19 women who were subjected to horrific sexual abuse while pupils at Dunderrow National School in Cork, according to Social Democrats education spokesperson Jen Cummins.
Deputy Cummins said:
“These women are rightly seeking redress for what was done to them as children by former school principal Leo Hickey.
“They were failed by every system that was supposed to protect them – and they are still being failed today.
“And while Hickey was later convicted of his crimes, the State managed to evade all responsibility.
“One survivor, Louise O’Keeffe, spent 16 years fighting for justice – aggressively opposed and pursued for costs through the courts by the Government at every stage – before finally winning her case in 2014 at the European Court of Human Rights, which found that the State had failed in its duty to protect children.
“That judgment should have been a turning point. Instead, in a textbook Irish Government approach to how it treats survivors of abuse, the redress schemes excluded the very people they were supposed to help.
“In a highly cynical move, the then Fine Gael and Labour government set up a redress scheme which was literally impossible to qualify for. A second scheme opened in 2021 but also included onerous preconditions.
“As a result, 19 victims of Leo Hickey – women whose evidence helped secure his conviction – have been denied redress. Their testimony was good enough for a criminal court but somehow isn’t good enough for the State when it comes to redress.
“Survivors do not need another review, another report or another excuse. They need a government that is willing to recognise the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights and commit to providing fair redress to all survivors without arbitrary barriers.”
June 23, 2026