Human rights commission calls for O’Keeffe v Ireland to be revisited

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has submitted a request that the case of O’Keeffe v Ireland be referred back to the European Court of Human Rights.

In its submission to the Council of Europe, IHREC said it believes the State has adopted an unduly narrow approach to the category of “victim” in dealing with survivors of child sexual abuse.

Emily Logan, IHREC chief commissioner, stated: “The Commission, as Ireland’s national human rights institution, has an important role to play in ensuring that judgments of the European Court of Human Rights concerning Ireland are fully implemented.

“This is the first occasion on which the Commission has called for a case to be referred back to the Court, a fact that underlines the importance of the issues raised for the many survivors of sexual abuse who are potentially affected by the Court’s judgment.”

Reports submitted by the Government to the Council of Europe’s committee of ministers reveal that the State Claims Agency will only offer out of court settlements to survivors of child sexual abuse who can demonstrate that their circumstances involved abuse by a primary or post-primary school employee, in respect of whom there was a prior complaint of sexual abuse to a school authority.

IHREC argues that the adoption of this criteria to identify cases covered by the O’Keeffe judgment are based on a limited interpretation of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, depriving certain categories of individuals who suffered abuse as children within the national school system of an effective remedy.

It has called on the committee of ministers to use its power under article 46 of the Convention to refer the O’Keeffe judgment back to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights to clarify whether its judgment was based on the existence of a prior complaint against the abuser which was not acted upon by the school manager.

Separately, Ms Logan has sought a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan to ensure that the State fulfils its obligations under the Convention to abide by the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the O’Keeffe case.