State awarded costs in school abuse case

A mother of two is facing a legal costs bill of some €500,000 after the High Court found yesterday that the Minister for Education and the State have no liability for indecent assaults inflicted on her by a primary school principal while she was a pupil.

The ruling is expected to have major implications for other cases.

The State yesterday sought the costs of the two-week action brought against it by Louise O'Keeffe which application was resisted by Frank Callanan SC, for Ms O'Keeffe, a mother of two, Thoam, Dunmanway, Co Cork. A costs order would inflict great hardship on Ms O'Keeffe, counsel argued.

However, Mr Justice Eamon de Valera said that, while he had great sympathy for Ms O'Keeffe (41), there were no exceptional circumstances to justify exercising his discretion not to award costs against her.

The judge said Ms O'Keeffe has suffered most serious injuries as a result of "the unforgivable actions" of a teacher and he had great sympathy for her. However, he had found the State defendants bore no blame for those actions.

While he had discretion relating to costs decisions, that discretion was so circumscribed by a number of Supreme Court decisions that he was not left with much choice.

There was nothing in the case that would allow him do other than award costs to the State.

On the application of Mr Callanan, and with no objection from counsel for the State, the judge directed that Ms O'Keeffe, having paid the State its costs, would be then entitled to seek to recoup those costs from her abuser, Leo Hickey, the former principal of Dunderrow national school, Kinsale.

However, it was indicated to the court that the issue of Hickey's ability to pay any costs is unclear. The judge also put a stay on his orders in the event of an appeal.

The judge went on to indicate that, had the proceedings been brought against the Catholic Diocese of Cork and Ross, as the Dunderrow school was under the patronage of the bishop of the diocese, the action may have had a more favourable outcome.

Mr Callanan said the relevant bishop at the time was deceased but counsel for the State said the action could have been brought against a personal representative of the bishop.

The proceedings arose after Ms O'Keeffe was assaulted by Hickey some 20 times while she was an eight-year-old pupil and he was principal at Dunderrow national school on dates from 1973.

In June 1998, Hickey pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to 21 charges of indecent assault from a sample 380 counts relating to 21 girls. He was jailed for three years.

Ms O'Keeffe subsequently secured an award of some €54,000 compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal, which award was on condition it would be repaid to the tribunal from any damages Ms O'Keeffe might secure in High Court proceedings.

She is disputing liability to repay that award which, her counsel contended yesterday, was inadequate and was accepted only under a degree of duress.

Ms O'Keeffe's High Court proceedings against Hickey and the State were heard by Mr Justice de Valera in 2004. At the outset of the action, judgment was obtained in default against Hickey, who did not appear at the hearing and was not represented.

The amount of the damages to be paid by Hickey to Ms O'Keeffe has yet to be assessed.

The case proceeded against the State, which denied vicarious liability for the assaults by Hickey on Ms O'Keeffe because of the department's role in relation to the school and the State's duties to vindicate the constitutional rights to bodily integrity and privacy.

In a reserved judgment last January, the judge found the Minister for Education and the State were not vicariously liable. The judge said Hickey was the principal of Dunderrow and the late Canon Stritch was the school manager at the time of the assaults on Ms O'Keeffe. The selection and appointment of any person as a teacher was the prerogative of the manager, as was a teacher's appointment as principal, he said.

The judge said he accepted the manager was the direct governor of the school.