Women forced to share stories of ‘systemic’ abuse at primary school as they fight for redress scheme.

A WOMAN who was abused by former school principal Leo Hickey more than 50 years ago has shared her story as a number of survivors prepare to sue the State.

The woman spoke anonymously to The Southern Star as it emerged that 19 women abused by Hickey at Dunderrow National School are still fighting for redress.

It comes 12 years after Louise O’Keeffe won a significant human rights case in  the European Court of Human Rights which found the State had failed in its duty of care to the children.

Former principal Leo Hickey, who ran the primary school near Kinsale from 1962 to 1974, pleaded guilty in 1998 to 21 sample counts from 386 sexual offence charges against 21 former pupils and served a three-year prison sentence.

Subsequent redress schemes set up in 2015 and 2021 excluded many of his victims because of strict eligibility criteria.

The woman who bravely spoke to The Southern Star told how the abuse started when she went into third class and ‘it was all day, every day and it was relentless’.

She revealed: ‘No place was safe in the school whether that was the classroom, toilets or the outdoor shed. The abuse happened in plain sight and every one saw it.

‘He [Hickey] was vicious with the boys in terms of physical abuse and the abuse often happened in front of them which must have been very difficult if they had siblings in the class.

‘I was seven and a half, we were country kids and we thought this was a normal school day. You just accept it and we all thought it was part of the school curriculum. We wouldn’t have questioned it as he was person in authority.’

The group of women ranging in age from 61 to their mid 70s say they are considering suing the State to access redress for the abuse they suffered at the school.

The woman continued: ‘Leo Hickey was a typical predator and he was even friends with the parents of some of the children he was abusing. He was socialable and he taught in the Irish colleges, but he was an angry man and had a stick.

‘For me the redress scheme is about acknowledging what happened to us. There could be others out there who were abused who may not have been believed at the time and I want them to know they will be believed.

‘Why is the Government prolonging this with their suggestion of setting up an inter-departmental group when some of the people are in their seventies? People are still so emotional about this and has had an effect on us for over 60 years. It’s retraumatising people when there is no need. We were forced to go public in our call for a redress scheme.’

Earlier this week Louise O’Keeffe commended the 19 women who went public this week  in their fight to seek proper redress. Speaking to The Southern Star, Louise said it must be very difficult for these women in having to rehash very personal trauma in order to seek a comprehensive redress scheme.

‘It’s demeaning, it’s hurtful and it prolongs the trauma for those women. It must be extra difficult for them as they have had to listen for the last 28 years about Louise O’Keeffe and Dunderrow National School and still get no resolve from it,’ she said.

She hailed the women as being ‘very brave’ in looking for that acknowledgement from the State and added that it is ‘atrocious’ that the State continues to turn around and fight these women in the same way they had fought her.

She said this proves that the victims are not being listened to despite government ministers coming out to say they will listen to them.

‘Back in 1998 Leo Hickey was convicted on the evidence of 21 women so from then to now it has always been well known that I wasn’t the only victim. How the State can turn around and say that they will look at it is unreal, they have known all this time.’

Louise also highlighted the anomaly that the State still hasn’t legislated into Irish Law the European Court of Human Rights judgement which ruled in her favour that the State failed to protect her from abuse by Hickey. She took her case all the way to the Supreme Court which had ruled against her.

‘If any of these women were to go to court to pursue historical sex abuse claims they would be told that they have no chance of winning as the Supreme Court ruling against me still stands as successive governments have not changed the legislation.’

Conor O’Mahony, director of the Child Law Clinic in UCC, said the failure of two previous redress schemes, which were very restrictive, compounds the suffering of these 19 women.

‘The onus was on the State to get its house in order after the 2014 European Court of Human Rights ruling and take the steps it needed to resolve the situation with others who were abused,’ he said.

Speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said these women and 17 of their classmates were failed by every system that was supposed to protect them.

‘And they are still being failed today. Survivors do not need another review, another report or another excuse.’

Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins said these women have spent decades seeking acknowledgment and justice. He called a vote in order to get the Government to debate the issue which was later defeated.

Cork South West Fianna Fáil TD and Minister of State Christopher O’Sullivan said the abuse which occurred at Dunderrow National School was ‘disgusting and vile’ and that State should have protected students from Leo Hickey.

‘I commend the brave women who have gone public about their horrific abuse and their campaign for proper redress.’