THE SUPREME Court has heard the State is seeking legal costs of some €75,000 following an unsuccessful test action brought against it by a woman who was sexually assaulted by a national school principal when she was a pupil.
Louise O’Keeffe had argued the State bore vicarious liability for the actions of the principal, but that argument was rejected by the Supreme Court last December. Some 200 other cases were awaiting the outcome of the action.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court reserved judgment on the issue of who should pay the costs of the action. The State sought its costs against Ms O’Keeffe while her lawyers argued the case was brought in the public interest and she should not have to pay costs.
Ms O’Keeffe (43), of Thoam, Dunmanway, Co Cork, had sued the Minister for Education and the State arising from some 20 sexual assaults by school principal Leo Hickey on her at Dunderrow National School, Co Cork, in 1973.
Hickey was jailed for three years in 1998 after pleading guilty to 21 sample charges of indecent assaults on 21 girls.
Yesterday, Fechin McDonagh SC, for the State, said his client was seeking its costs, but the matter of enforcement of any costs order would be treated “with great sensitivity”.
The State had warned Ms O’Keeffe in correspondence in 1998 that her action was doomed from the outset, he said.
Frank Callanan SC, for Ms O’Keeffe, argued her action had established a point of law in the public interest and she was entitled to costs of both the High Court and the Supreme Court hearings.
The five-judge Supreme Court, comprising of the Chief Justice Mr John Murray, Ms Justice Susan Denham, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman, Mr Justice Hugh Geoghegan and Mr Justice Nial Fennelly, reserved its decision.
The court had heard Ms O’Keeffe was sexually assaulted by Hickey when she was just eight- years-old and that several parents withdrew girls from the Dunderrow school in protest at Hickey’s actions in 1973.
Hickey ultimately resigned in January 1974 and was employed the following month at a boys school in Ballincollig, Cork. He continued to teach until his recognition as a teacher was withdrawn after criminal proceedings in the late 1990s.
Ms O’Keeffe had secured €53,000 damages from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal but was unhappy with the award. Her High Court action against Hickey and the State was heard by Mr Justice Eamon de Valera in 2004 with judgment delivered in 2006. Damages against Hickey were assessed at €300,000, but the judge rejected her claim against the State and awarded costs against her.
Last December, the Supreme Court dismissed her appeal against that decision.
The court ruled the State defendants had no vicarious liability for the actions of Hickey because there was no employer/employee relationship, formal or substantive, between them.