Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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1275. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide a response to matters (details supplied) raised by persons who have taken cases having been victims of abuse in schools here. [31343/15]

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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1276. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware that since a ruling on the case of a person (details supplied) the State Solicitor has rejected cases similar to theirs; and the reason this has happened. [31344/15]

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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1277. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of settlements offered by the State to cases coming within the terms of the European Court of Human Rights decision in a case (details supplied); the number of cases currently being considered by the State Claims Agency where there was a prior complaint about a teacher concerned; and the number of cases previously being pursued that were originally dropped. [31345/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take questions Nos. 1275 to 1277, inclusive, together.

In its response to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgment, the Government agreed in December 2014 that out of court settlements be offered in those extant cases of school child sexual abuse being brought against the State where the cases come within the terms of the ECtHR judgment and satisfy the Statute of Limitations. In this regard, the State Claims Agency (SCA) has made settlement offers in 7 of the 35 cases and has written to the other 28 litigants advising that the circumstances do not appear to come within the parameters of the judgement and inviting them to revert with any contrary evidence. Where a litigant does not accept the offer in settlement of his/her case or where the SCA is not satisfied that the case comes within the terms of the judgment, the case will proceed before the domestic Courts.

Subsequently, in July of this year, the Government approved proposals to offer ex-gratia payments up to a maximum of €84,000 to those who initiated legal proceedings in cases of school child sexual abuse against the State but who subsequently discontinued their claims against the State where, similarly, the circumstances of the claims come within the terms of the ECtHR judgment and where the claims were not statute barred prior to the proceedings being discontinued. It is not possible to assess at this stage how many cases in this category will satisfy these criteria. Persons who believe that their cases come within the criteria can contact the SCA and provide supporting evidence. Where there is a disagreement between the SCA and the individual as to whether their circumstances come within the terms of the ECtHR judgment, provision will be made for the application to be reviewed by an independent assessor.In cases where settlements are agreed, the State will pay, in addition to the settlement amount, such reasonable costs as agreed by the SCA. In the context of settling abuse victim compensation claims, the SCA has advised that it is not its practice to seek to impose a confidentiality clause on Plaintiffs in abuse related cases. In offering these settlements, the State will not be covering the liabilities of the perpetrators, school managers or patrons or other co-defendants.

To be eligible for the above settlement or payment arrangements, cases must involve sexual abuse of a school child by a primary or second level school employee in respect of whom there was a prior complaint of sexual abuse to a school authority (including an authority of a school in which the teacher had previously taught), prior to the issue of the Department of Education guidelines to primary and post-primary schools in 1991 and 1992 respectively. This rationale has been adopted as it is the basis of the ECtHR judgment.