Press release 08/12/25

Child Sexual Abuse Case - Restore Together welcomes sentencing of Peter Kelly & calls on victims to consider non-adversarial route to justice

Restore Together welcomes ruling in Willow Park School sexual abuse case but urges other victims/ survivors to consider non-adversarial route to justice and healing 8 December 2025

The advocacy group Restore Together has welcomed the administration of justice with the sentencing of the former Willow Park School teacher and convicted paedophile Peter Kelly following a case taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The group is especially pleased for and commends the bravery of the eight witnesses who testified about the abuse they suffered.

However, while welcoming the outcome of the case, the group is urging victims/ survivors of child sex abuse at Spiritan schools (Blackrock College & Willow Park School, Rockwell College, St. Mary's College, St. Michael's College and Templeogue College) who have yet to seek help for the abuse they continue to suffer from, to consider taking a non-adversarial route to healing and justice through the Independent Restorative Programme.

The programme offers a range of supports, free of charge, to help victims/ survivors. These include therapy/ counselling and financial redress without any need to go to court. The programme, which The Spiritan Order has fully committed to, is expertly led by a team of independent restorative justice professionals. Details of the

programme are available through the Restore Together website - www.restoretogether.ie

The Restorative Programme is a ground-breaking development in Irish social justice in a country that has struggled to deal with the myriad of sexual abuse scandals that have been exposed in the last 30 years. The programme is progressively designed to address the traumas of abuse in a holistic, collaborative and non-adversarial

manner in order to help people to heal and get justice and to rebalance the power between victim and perpetrator.

The elements of the Restorative Programme are:

1. Therapy/ counselling (free of charge)
2. Restorative Justice - a victim centred set of processes focused on delivering personal healing at a holistic level and at a pace that suits the victim/ survivor.
3. Redress - a monetary payment as an acknowledgement of wrongdoing and a contribution towards setting right what was wrongly done.
4. Truth-gathering Process to capture the full social history of the schools when the abuses occurred so as to help everyone move towards closure and to ensure comprehensive learnings are built into the current and future management of the schools.
   
   * Everyone associated with the schools (pupil, teacher, staff, managers), regardless of whether they were abused or not or what their role in the schools was, will be able to contribute their testimony and view of events if they choose to do so.
5. Memorialisation - It is hoped that each school will choose to adopt a memorial for reflection on the wrongs inflicted and the need for vigilance with regard to the potential for sexual abuse in society. It is hoped that some of the memorials will be physical ones.