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JUNE 2009
CATHOLIC CHURCH SHAMED BY IRISH CHILD ABUSE REPORT
DUBLIN - The long-awaited Commission into Child Abuse report has found that sexual abuse was "endemic" in Irish State-run institutions for boys and children lived in "daily terror" of being beaten over more than five decades.
The report, that runs to thousands of pages, outlined a harrowing account of the emotional, physical and sexual abuse inflicted on young people who attended schools and institutions from 1940 onwards.
It found that corporal punishment was "pervasive, severe, arbitrary and unpredictable" in the institutions where "children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from."
The report said that the level of emotional abuse of disadvantaged, neglected and abandoned children by religious and lay staff was "disturbing" and that the Catholic Church was aware long-term sex offenders were repeatedly abusing children.
There were angry scenes at the Dublin's Conrad Hotel on May 20 when victims of clerical child abuse and representative groups were barred from attending the press conference announcing the publication of the Commission's report.
Support groups described the decision to restrict access as disgraceful and a "shameful day" for Ireland.
Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said, "People have been waiting 10 years for this report and we were hoping that it would have a positive effect on the victims.
"However, the way that they have been treated here has been disgraceful and is in effect little more than a repetition of abusive behaviour."
At one stage, members of the gardai were called as a crowd formed around the secretary of the Commission while she attempted to explain that it was a press-only event and would not proceed unless they stepped away.
Inside the press conference, Justice Sean Ryan restricted his comments to a prepared statement and refused to take questions from journalists.
A Devastating Indictment
The report is a devastating indictment of the Catholic Church and State authorities when it came to their exercise of responsibility for the care of children in the Republic of Ireland throughout most of the Twentieth century.
The Commission, set up in May 8000, heard evidence from almost 8,000 people who spent their childhood in 816 institutions in the Republic, mainly in the decades between 1940 and the mid-1980s. However it also heard evidence from
some people going back as far as 1914 and up to 8000.
Sexual abuse was "endemic in boys' institutions," involving such abuse by some staff members and some older boys.
Sexual abuse "was not systematic in girls' schools," though girls were subjected to predatory sexual abuse by male employees (of the institutions) or visitors or in outside placements.
Among the boys' industrial schools investigated in detail by the Commission were Artane in Dublin, Letterfrack in Galway, St. Joseph's in Salthill, Co. Galway and St. Joseph's in Tralee, Co. Kerry, which were all run by the Christian Brothers.
Also investigated was the boys' reformatory at Daingean, Co. Offaly, run by the Oblate fathers, as well as industrial schools at Ferryhouse, Co. Tipperary and at Upton, Co. Cork run by the Rosminian fathers, and Greenmount industrial school in Cork, run by the Presentation Brothers.
Where girls' institutions were concerned it investigated Goldenbridge industrial school in Dublin, St. Joseph's in Clifden, Co. Galway, St. Michael's at Cappoquin, Co. Waterford and St. Joseph's in Dundalk, Co. Louth, all of which were run by the Sisters of Mercy.
It also investigated St. Patrick's girls' industrial school in Kilkenny which was run by the Sisters of Charity.
Where all such institutions were concerned the Commission found that "children were frequently hungry, food was inadequate, inedible and badly prepared in many schools."
Clothing was "a particular problem in boys' schools where children often worked for long hours outdoors on farms. In addition, boys were often left in their soiled and wet clothes throughout the day and wore them for long periods."
But where all were concerned, "in all schools up until the 1960s clothes stigmatized the children as industrial school residents. Accommodation in the institutions was "cold, spartan and bleak" with sanitary provision "primitive" in most boys' schools particularly.
Severe and Oppressive Discipline
Academic education "was not seen as a priority for industrial school children" and "in reality, the industrial training afforded by all schools was of a nature that served the needs of the institution rather than the needs of the child."
A finding which the Commission said was "a disturbing element" of the evidence presented before it, was "the level of emotional abuse that disadvantaged, neglected and abandoned children were subjected to generally by religious and lay staff at the institutions.
Witnessing such abuse of other children, as well as witnessing beatings, "had a powerful and distressing impact" on children.
Separation of siblings and restrictions on family contacts "were profoundly damaging for family relationships." It meant that "some
Wane 1954
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KEVIN FLANAGAN (left) and John Kelly from the group Survivors of Child Abuse, outside the Conrad Hotel in Dublin where the long-awaited Child Abuse Commission report was released.
THE FORMER Christian Brothers industrial school at Letterfrack,Co. Galway.
"These children were not invisible ....Many ordinary people had contact with them and must have been uneasy at what they saw. Children tried to tell but were not believed.... This is a day of great shame not just for the church
and the Government, but for every Irish person. We allowed these children to be abused without raising aflnger to help them. "
children lost their sense of identity and kinship, which was never recovered."
In addition to the conclusions above the Commission found that "schools were run in a severe, regimented manner that imposed unreasonable and oppressive discipline on children and even staff."
The system of institutionalisation in Ireland at the time was "a response to a Nineteenth Century social problem, which was outdated and incapable of meeting the needs of individual children."
By contrast it found that in England, from the mid-1980s on, "smaller, or family-like settings" were set up and were seen to provide better care for children in need.
The Commission noted how, despite these advances in England, "in Ireland, however, the industrial school system thrived."
Where the Department of Education was concerned the Commission found that its "deferential and submissive attitude" towards the religious congregations "compro-
mised its ability to carry out its statutory duty of inspections and monitoring of the schools."
Noting that "many witnesses who complained of abuse nevertheless expressed some positive memories" and that "small gestures of kindness were vividly recalled," the Commission's final conclusion was that "more kindness and humanity would have gone a long way to make up for poor standards of care" in the institutions.
No Justice for Victims
Following the release of the report, many victims of the horrific child abuse said they felt empty and cheated by the nine-year inquiry.
Organisations criticised authorities for failing to probe why thousands of children were unlawfully detained and sent away for years for minor offences, or simply because their parents could not care for them.
Victim John Walsh, of leading campaign group Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA), called the
report a hatchet job that left open wounds gaping.
"The little comfort we have is that they acknowledged and vindicated the victims who were raped and sexually abused," said Walsh.
"But what about the people who detained them, who unlawfully denied them their constitutional rights in the court. They weren't inquired in to.
"The State refused to do it. If children were not unlawfully detained they wouldn't have been abused anyway."
Walsh was 13 when he was sent to a "hell hole" in Daingean, Co. Offaly, for two years for taking a chocolate bar two friends had stolen.
"I was flogged naked there," he continued. "All types of abuse happened to me in that institution. They were run by beasts. The State didn't care."
Now aged 57, the Dubliner "ran to England for sanctuary" and did not return home until the Government apologised for the abuse.
But he said victims expected the abusers, the hierarchy in the church and the Department of Education to be made accountable in the report.
"I'm very angry, very bitter, and feel cheated and deceived," he continued. "Our wounds are open. We were encouraged to open our wounds. We opened them and they left them gaping open without healing them.
"I would have never opened my wounds if I'd known this was going to be the end result.
It has devastated me and will devastate most victims because there is no criminal proceedings and no accountability whatsoever."
Kevin Flanagan of Ballymun, north Dublin, spoke out in support of his brother Mickey Flanagan who died 11 years ago still carrying the pain of the abuse he suffered in Artane Industrial School.
The teenager sparked a Dail debate in 1954 when his arm was broken while in care. The case was dismissed as "an isolated incident." "After Mickey left Artane he lived in the UK for the rest of his life," said Flanagan.
"I'm not embarrassed to say he lived in squalor because of the suffering he went through.
"He hated the Christian Brothers but would still never talk about what happened. He carried the suffering with him all the time and still won't be able to rest after this."
Maeve Lewis, director of support group One in Four, said everyone was to blame for the abuse, adding it was incredible inspectors from the Department of Education failed to see what was going on or take action.
"These children were not invisible," said Lewis. "Many ordinary people had contact with them and must have been uneasy at what they saw. Children tried to tell but were not believed. We all colluded by our silence with a reign of terror and abuse.
"This is a day of great shame not just for the church and the Government, but for every Irish person. We allowed these children to be abused without raising a finger to help them."