FIVE Limerick men who were among 19 boys sexually abused by a teacher at Creagh Lane Christian Brothers School in the city fifty years ago had their case for State redress highlighted in the Dáil this week.
In 1967, during his first year of teaching at Creagh Lane, then Brother Sean Drummond molested 19 young boys in his class.
In 2009, he was jailed for two years for those offences after the matters became the subject of a criminal prosecution.
The retired UCD librarian with an address in Ballinteer, Dublin 16, was back before the court in 2013 for offences carried out at CBS Sexton Street.
Over a two year period, the children, aged between eight and 11, suffered “devastating and traumatic consequences as a result of the abuse.
One victim said that he tried to end his own life and often had suicidal thoughts over the abuse he suffered at the hands of Brother Drummond.
“I have never forgotten his name or his face. The things that happened have caused problems in my relationships and confused my thinking.”
Drummond, who has 38 previous convictions for similar offences initially denied the assaults but later admitted his guilt after a jury was sworn to hear the trial.
He was convicted and given a two-year suspended prison sentence.
The Dáil debate on Tuesday night was opened by Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea who outlined the case involving the historic child sex abuse carried out by Brother Sean Drummond in the 1960s.
Deputy O’Dea said that the five men were told that the State could not legally compensate them and their fellow victims.
He said that the demand for the victims to provide evidence of a prior complaint being made about the abuse was a “grotesque and quite deliberate interpretation of the Louise O’Keefe Case.”
At the European Court of Human Rights, Louise O’Keefe secured compensation and an apology from the Taoiseach after the court ruled that the State failed to protect children from the abuse it knew was taking place at day schools.
Anti Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy echoed Deputy O’Dea’s comments claiming that previous victims of abuse were bullied by the Government “into silence to drop their case or the State would pursue them for legal costs”.
Education Minister Richard Bruton said that Government would be appointing an independent assessor to adjudicate on increasing differences between victims of child sex abuse in day schools and the State which they are pursuing for redress.
And he emphasised that the State would not be covering the liabilities of the perpetrators, school managers or other co-defendants in the cases.
Deputy O’Dea said that this move would possibly open the door for some survivors.
Speaking outside the Dail on Tuesday night, the five men said they felt they still deserved compensation from the State.
