Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Micheál Martin mentioned seven out of 210 cases have been settled. That is 210 cases before the courts. However, we have no idea of the numbers who might wish to come forward to say they were sexually abused in school X or Y by teacher or person X or Y. We have no idea of the scale of that.

When the State dealt with the Louise O'Keeffe case on 28 January 2014, when the judgment was issued, it made awards both in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages, costs and expenses. It also agreed in December 2014 that out-of-court settlements will be offered to those extant cases of school child sexual abuse being brought against the State where the cases came within the terms of the European Court of Human Rights judgment and satisfied the Statute of Limitations. In that regard, the State Claims Agency, which manages such cases on behalf of the State, has made settlement offers which have been accepted in six cases. In July 2015, the Government approved proposals to offer ex gratiapayments of up to a maximum of €84,000 to those who initiated legal proceedings in such cases against the State, but who subsequently discontinued their claims against the State and where, similarly, the circumstances of the claims came within the terms of the European Court of Human Rights judgment, and where the claims were not statute barred prior to the proceedings being discontinued. I will follow through on the Deputy's question.

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