Martin and Varadkar ‘must honour commitments’

WEST Cork woman Louise O’Keeffe has called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar to deliver on promises they made exactly a year ago to compensate children who were sexually abused while attending day schools.

Award-winning children’s rights campaigner Ms O’Keeffe (pictured, right) has called on both men to honour commitments they gave in the Dáil on July 9th 2019.

‘Both Micheal Martin and Leo Varadkar must honour commitments they made in Dáil Eireann a year ago that they would ensure the victims of child sex abuse in Irish schools were no longer wronged,’ she said.

In an email sent to the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the newly appointed Minister for Education Norma Foley, Louise has reminded them of their promises.

‘It will be a year this week since Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill gave his ruling confirming what we have been saying for years – the requirement to show prior complaint before receiving redress was totally incompatible with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgment,’ Ms O’Keeffe said.

A Government spokeswoman said the Taoiseach was acutely aware of the concerns of those who suffered abuse in primary schools and would be engaging with the Department of Education to progress the matter.