Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 May 2026
567. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on section 69 of the Government’s Action Plan submitted to the Committee of Ministers on 30 July 2025 in a case (details supplied); to specify the current position in respect of the approximately 40 further letters of claim and/or proceedings received since the June 2024 settlements; and the actions that have been taken to date in response to those claims. [34318/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy will appreciate that I cannot comment on individual or specific cases referred to in his question, which may be the subject of potential litigation.
I can advise the Deputy however that a range of measures have been put in place to implement the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgement in O’Keeffe v Ireland, which are set out in detail in the Action Plan. These include extensive measures to improve child protection in schools and the provision of an ex gratia payment scheme.
Specific measures which have been taken to implement the judgement include:
• the development and implementation of robust child protection measures, which includes enhanced mechanisms in respect of detection and reporting (including mandatory reporting) of child protection concerns
• measures in place to support Primary and Post-Primary schools to comply with their statutory obligations under the Children First Act 2015
• vetting and other measures and
• the development and operation of the ex gratia scheme, to provide compensation to individuals falling within the scope of the O’Keeffe judgement
The child protection measures which are now in place have ensured that there is a very strong culture of child protection across the school sector.
In addition, the development of an ex gratia scheme to address discontinued cases, and the settlement of extant and new cases that are not statute barred following the 2014 judgement, has provided an effective remedy to individuals falling within the scope of the ECtHR’s judgement.
Finally, I wish to explain that my Department provides regular updates to the Council of Europe regarding Ireland's implementation of the ECtHR judgement. The State has filed 18 such Action Plans to date, which are available on my Department's website at www.education.ie.
