Professor Ursula Kilkelly is an expert in children's rights, child law and the European Convention on Human Rights. At University College Cork, she is director of the Child Law Clinic at the Faculty of Law.
Dr Conor O’Mahony lectures in constitutional law and child law at UCC, and has written extensively about children’s rights in an educational setting, including his book, Educational Rights in Irish Law (Thomson Round Hall, 2006).
On 28 January 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights upheld Cork woman Louise O’Keefe’s complaint that the Irish State had failed to protect her from the abuse she suffered in a national school in 1973. Ending a legal battle against the State that had lasted 15 years, the European Court found that Ireland had violated Ms O’Keefe’s rights under Articles 3 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), with a judgment that made legal history.
Although legal practitioners in Ireland may be familiar with the ECHR, understandably most will lack the kind of detailed knowledge of Strasbourg law that is necessary to put the Convention to really effective use. The experience of the O’Keeffe case provides a novel illustration of how this can be overcome. The application was the collaborative effort of a tenacious and courageous applicant, the expertise of Cork based solicitors Ernest Cantillon and Mary Scriven and barristers David Holland SC and Alan Keating BL, and the academic input of UCC Faculty of Law’s Child Law Clinic.
The Child Law Clinic (including Professor Ursula Kilkelly, Dr Conor O’Mahony and a team of postgraduate students), provides a free legal resource to those seeking to litigate children’s issues. In this case, the Clinic was involved in the ECtHR litigation from the outset and provided support to the legal team in several ways. First, members of the Clinic met with the legal team to discuss strategy. Second, research assistance on the ECHR was provided, and relevant case law and lines of argument were presented. Third, Professor Kilkelly and Dr O’Mahony collaborated with the team when drafting the applicant’s and responding to the Government’s written submissions. Fourth, supplementary research assistance was provided throughout all correspondence to ensure that the most recent cases were cited and that all points raised by the State in its defence received a robust response. The Clinic attended the hearing before the Grand Chamber in Strasbourg in 2013.
As the O’Keefe case illustrates, collaboration between the Clinic and legal practitioners can be mutually beneficial. Clinic members – especially students – can learn from the exposure to matters of practice, procedure and advocacy. Practitioners’ capacity is supported to undertake novel litigation by enjoying access to a free research resource and in this instance, the Clinic’s significant ECHR experience supplemented the skill and knowledge of professional lawyers. The ideal result – achieved here with success for Louise O’Keefe – is that the quality of the litigation and the students’ educational experience at the Faculty of Law, UCC are enhanced.
The Clinic’s role in the Strasbourg victory is the jewel in its crown to date. It has been active in a variety of other child law cases too, appearing before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights last November and it is currently involved in a case before the European Social Rights Committee on physical punishment. The Clinic engages in a range of advocacy, research and public awareness activities and anyone interested in finding out more should see http://www.ucc.ie/en/childlawclinic/, follow the Clinic on Twitter (@ChildlawUCC) or on Facebook. Practitioners interested in working the Clinic should contact Professor Ursula Kilkelly at u.kilkelly@ucc.ie.
Click here to read a recent PILA Bulletin article about the O’Keefe case.