The following petition seeks three points of action by the Irish State in compliance with its obligations in the O'KEEFFE v. IRELAND (Application No. 35810/09) which was decided on 28th January 2014 (https://bit.ly/38rZBiA) at the European Court of Human Rights which found against Ireland.
 
On 5th July 2018, the Fine Gael Government was resoundingly defeated on its insistence of a requirement that ‘day school survivors’ had to prove a ‘prior complaint’ in order to avail of any compensation from the State Claims Agency set up for that purpose. Dáil Debate - link. Dáil Result - link or link
 
On 5th July 2019, Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill (https://bit.ly/2BEjmYo) ‘concluded that the "prior complaint " condition was not compatible with a correct Implementation of the Judgement of the ECtHR in the Louise O’Keeffe case’.

On 5thJuly 2020, this petition on behalf of day school survivors in Ireland seeks:

1. Insertion of Justice for Day School Survivors in the ‘Programme for Government’ (https://bit.ly/3ihwfbe) immediately
2. Ireland’s ‘Action Plan’ promised since 30 September 2019 to the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (https://bit.ly/31wS2FU and https://bit.ly/38hxe6D) is to be delivered urgently, prior to Ireland’s promise to do so on 8th December 2020 (https://bit.ly/31J3v52).
3. To convene an inter-department meeting with the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Ministers for Education, Justice, Foreign Affairs and Children urgently with day school survivors, prior to Ireland’s Action Plan deadline on 8th December 2020

BACKGROUND

This follows yesterday’s announcement, on 4thJuly, by Louise O’Keeffe for ‘the [Irish] State to own up to its responsibility by re-opening the ex-gratia scheme and including the victims of child abuse in our [day] schools’. (https://bit.ly/2BEaAcU)
 
AIM

The petition’s aim is to address the many distressing circumstances surrounding the lives of day school survivors and their families who are overrepresented, through no fault of their own, in the most harrowing social statistics in homelessness, mental health, self-harming, addictions, suicide, low income, repeated to long-term unemployment, imprisonment, broken relationships and families, social isolation, and poor life expectancy.

There simply isn’t another day let alone six and a half years for justice to come to day school survivors.

The call to finally implement the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (https://bit.ly/38rZBiA) must be addressed with urgency. 

The reason for seeking the ‘further’ Government Action Plan as soon as possible, is because it was promised by the last government but they failed to do so. It indicated a cavalier and indifferent attitude towards addressing the enormous injustice perpetrated on the survivors of such horrendous abuse in the schooling system of Ireland, where the current coronavirus pandemic adds even greater urgency in requiring urgent restitution through the State Claims Agency set up for that purpose following the ECHR Judgment on 28th January 2014.

COVID-19 has a very damaging effect on the Irish population in general but to those survivors already shouldering so much distress in their lives, this is an opportunity of ensuring no further delay might intensify their suffering.

We would appreciate a reply and commitment to ensuring survivors of day school abuse might see conclusion of their injustice stretching back to their childhood, dashed in the Supreme Court of Ireland in 2008, only to be thwarted at every turn since 2014 in the Judgment of O'KEEFFE v. Ireland (Application No. 35810/09) (https://bit.ly/2BVczJA) at the European Court of Human Rights which found against Ireland.

Please sign this Petition if you support this call for JUSTICE for DAY SCHOOL SURVIVORS in IRELAND.

NOTE: Your name and contact details can be kept confidential when signing this petition where you chose to do so in ticking the appropriate box.

Please also note that this petition is not a fund raising exercise and any request for money is in support of the platform change.org and not for the petition or petitioner.