According to an article published by Irish new service, "RTÉ," Grace's story of abuse and neglect brings attention to the lack of framework implemented by the Irish government to prevent children from institutionalised abuse. The, "Louise O'Keeffe case," investigated allegations of abuse by a woman named Louise, who was abused as an eight year old in 1973, and along with 21 others, mounted allegations of abuse against Leo Hickey, the former principal of the Dunderrow National School, a primary school in Ireland. It was alleged that Leo Hickey abused these women on 400 occasions whilst he was principal of the school in the 1970s. The case was ruled on by the European Court of Human Rights and found that Irish state was liable, and that the case was indicative of the government's failure to take preventative action against sexual abuse in its schools. However, the state denied responsibility for the abuse. Leo Hickey was ordered to serve a three-year jail sentence as, despite the 400 allegations he only plead guilty to 21 charges. In 2015, the US State department that Ireland was a destination country for human trafficking, including sex trafficking and forced labour. Whilst the Department's report still categorised Ireland as a Tier 1 nation, meaning that the country's efforts to eliminate the issue were found to comply the minimum standards of the US, it was further noted that whilst Irish law enforcement efficiently investigated human trafficking offences, often the traffickers were not convicted. In 2018, Ireland was downgraded, in the United States’ Trafficking of Persons Report 2018, from Tier 1, to Tier 2; Tier 2 including countries that fall below US standards in combatting human trafficking. The report found that, regarding the efforts of the Irish government, "The government has not obtained a trafficking conviction since the law was amended, in 2013; it initiated only three prosecutions in 2017, and had chronic deficiencies in victim-identification and referral." The number of newly identified cases in 2017 numbered 115, an increase on the 90 cases identified in 2015. According to the report, this increase can be accounted for by the Irish governments, "decreased," law enforcement efforts. Whilst the report did note that Ireland's, Garda Síochána, (police force), runs a dedicated email service involved with reporting trafficking, action was taken on a mere 31 emails, a number disproportionate when compared with the number of cases published by the report. The report further found that the Irish government provided, "no legally mandated psychological assistance to victims," and had dedicated little effort to, "reduce the demand for sex trafficking or forced labour."