The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday found Ireland liable for sexual abuse suffered by a girl at a Catholic-run state primary school in the 1970s. "The Court found that it was an inherent obligation of a Government to protect children from ill-treatment, especially in a primary education context," the court said in its ruling of a case brought by a woman who had been sexually abused by the principal of her school in 1973. "That obligation had not been met," it said.