Background

The scheme provides redress relating to childhood sexual abuse in day schools has now been reopened for applications. It provides for ex gratia payments to be made to those who qualify for the Scheme and who satisfy the criteria as set out in the Terms of Reference of the Scheme.

Those eligible for the scheme may have engaged solicitors in the past, given that the “specific category of people” eligible are “those persons who had commenced domestic litigation but who had discontinued those proceedings following the High Court [2006 IEHC 13] and Supreme Court [2008 IESC 72] judgments in the [O’Keeffe case] and who were unable to re-commence their litigation in the domestic courts.”

Are your clients eligible?

To be eligible for the scheme an individual must:

• have issued legal proceedings against the State by 1 July 2021 seeking damages for childhood sexual abuse in a recognised day school,

• have issued those proceedings relating to abuse occurring before November 1991 in respect of a primary school or before June 1992 in respect of a post primary school, and

• can demonstrate that - had the Guidelines for Procedures for Dealing with Allegations or Suspicions of Child Abuse been in place at the time the sexual abuse occurred – there would have been a real prospect of altering the outcome or mitigating the harm suffered by them as a result,

Making an application

Awards of up to €84,000 may be offered through the Scheme, which closes on 20 July 2023.

For more information, and to apply, visit the gov.ie website.