A 42-year old mother of two has accused the Department of Education of providing comfort to a retired school principal who sexually abused her, while at the same time pursuing her for costs of €500,000.
Louise O'Keeffe, from Dunmanway in west Cork said the department was paying her abuser, Leo Hickey, a €26,000 annual pension while she was facing a bill of around €500,000 for the legal costs of her failed High Court action against the State.
Hickey, a retired school principal, was jailed in June 1998 for three years for a catalogue of sexual abuse that began in 1964 and involved 21 young girls.
Louise O'Keeffe was one of those girls and in 2006 she sued Leo Hickey and the Department of Education for damages for the abuse she suffered.
The High Court ruled that the State was not responsible and ordered Louise O'Keeffe to pay the State's legal costs of around €500,000. The court awarded Louise O'Keeffe €300,000 against Hickey, but he did not pay her.
This afternoon at the district court in Bandon, Leo Hickey was ordered to pay Louise O'Keeffe €400 per month. He undertook to do so.
Afterwards, though, Louise O'Keeffe insisted that the Department of Education bore some responsibility for the abuse she suffered.
A spokeswoman for the department rejected Louise O'Keeffe's claims, saying Leo Hickey had a legal entitlement to his pension.
Leo Hickey began abusing Louise O'Keeffe in 1973. On Wednesday, almost 35 years later, he lodged his first monthly payment of €400 to Louise O'Keeffe's bank account and he will continue paying that money for the rest of his life.
