Revised Ex Gratia Scheme remains open until 20 July 2023

A revised ex gratia scheme (“the Scheme”) established to implement the European Court of Human Rights judgement relating to childhood sexual abuse in day schools has now been reopened for applications.

The Scheme provides for ex gratia payments to be made to those who qualify for the Scheme and who satisfy the criteria as set out in the Terms of Reference of the Scheme which can be found below:

In order to qualify to apply for the Scheme, an individual must meet the criteria below. They must have issued legal proceedings against the State by 1 July 2021 seeking damages for childhood sexual abuse in a recognised day school and as part of their application, must be able to demonstrate that they:

• have been sexually abused while a pupil at a recognised day school with this abuse occurring before November 1991 in respect of a primary school or before June 1992 in respect of a post primary school and
• that, had the Department of Education’s Guidelines for Procedures for Dealing with Allegations or Suspicions of Child Abuse (November 1991/June 1992) been in place at the time the sexual abuse occurred, there would have been a real prospect of altering the outcome or mitigating the harm suffered as a result

An application for payment under the Scheme must include a completed application form which may be downloaded below:

If you would prefer for the application form to be posted out to you or if you have any queries about the application process for the Scheme please contact the Department of Education at 09064-83625 or email exgratia_queries@education.gov.ie

Applications to the Scheme will be assessed by the State Claims Agency who will administer the Scheme on behalf of the State. All postal applications should be sent to the address below ensuring that Ex Gratia Scheme is clearly referenced on the application.

Applications made by email should be forwarded to stateclaims@ntma.ie

Please use the term Ex Gratia Scheme in the subject line of the email.

See also

• Minister Foley announces reopening of Ex Gratia Scheme for the implementation of the ECHR Judgement in O’Keeffe vs Ireland
• European Court of Human Rights – O’Keeffe v Ireland