IRELAND’S HUMAN RIGHTS watchdog has said that a fair and inclusive redress scheme for survivors of sexual abuse in schools should be established without delay.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has criticised the State for failing to have already developed a redress scheme despite being previously aware of instances of such abuse. 

It is calling on the State to provide €84,000 to survivors in line with the outcome of a 2014 case at the European Court of Human Rights.

A scoping inquiry found almost 2,400 allegations of sexual abuse of children in schools run by religious orders, a report published this week revealed.

The allegations span a total of 308 schools run by 42 religious orders and 844 alleged abusers. 

In a statement, IHREC Director Deirdre Malone said: “One instance of abuse recorded against a child is one too many.”

“This report details systemic abuse of the worst kind, suffered by thousands of children, over decades,” Malone said.

“A fair, accessible and inclusive redress scheme, established immediately, is the minimum appropriate response that human dignity – and law – require.”

Laying out its position this afternoon, the IHREC said that the scoping inquiry report details harrowing experiences suffered by children over a period of decades.

It accused the State of bearing “significant responsibility” for the historic abuse of children in schools.

“This has been clear, as a matter of law, since 2014, when Louise O’Keeffe won her case before the European Court of Human Rights (the ‘ECtHR’) in Strasbourg,” the IHREC said.

The Court ruled the Irish State had breached Louise O’Keeffe’s rights under the European Convention of Human Rights and she was awarded €84,000 from the State.

The Court also ruled that the Irish State had been aware of the level of sexual crime by adults against minors in Ireland and noted that the State should have been aware of potential risks to children’s safety when it allowed religious orders to dominate the education sector. 

“Without prejudice to the responsibility of individuals or religious orders to survivors, it has been clear for the past decade that the State has had a legal responsibility to make redress to abuse survivors for its own failure to protect children in schools by failing to put child protection measures in place until the early 1990s,” the IHREC said today.

“However, despite this clear legal obligation, the State has persistently failed to put in place a fair and adequate redress scheme as it is required to do by law,” it said.

“This failure by the State has forced individual survivors to endure further delays, retraumatisation and the risk of significant financial exposure, by having to commence High Court proceedings to vindicate their rights.

“Recently, in June 2024, the State settled 10 such cases as the matter was finally about to go to hearing, paying each survivor the redress payment of €84,000 that they are entitled to.”

The IHREC also said that a restorative justice programme must be made available to all survivors.