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Chapter 1 — Establishment of the Commission

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The move to Glin

105

The Sisters of Charity operated five industrial schools, including St Joseph’s and St Patrick’s in Kilkenny and a group home, Madonna House in Dublin. The Religious Sisters of Charity also operate 19 primary schools and eight post-primary schools, and provide special needs education to a small number of schools.

Religious Congregations’ evidence

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The Sisters of Charity have never issued a public apology in respect of child abuse. However, the Congregation has issued three specific apologies relating to the criminal convictions of three of its staff, one in Madonna House and two in St Josephs, Kilkenny.

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The Sisters of Charity have never issued a public apology in respect of child abuse. However, the Congregation has issued three specific apologies relating to the criminal convictions of three of its staff, one in Madonna House and two in St Josephs, Kilkenny.

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The apology in relation to Madonna House was issued in 1994 and read: The Religious Sisters of Charity are deeply concerned and saddened by what has happened to the children at Madonna House. We offer our heartfelt apology to each and every person who has suffered in a situation where we tried to ensure that they would experience warmth, care and support.

107

The apology in relation to Madonna House was issued in 1994 and read: The Religious Sisters of Charity are deeply concerned and saddened by what has happened to the children at Madonna House. We offer our heartfelt apology to each and every person who has suffered in a situation where we tried to ensure that they would experience warmth, care and support.

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The second apology was issued at the sentencing of a male childcare worker in St Joseph’s in 1997, and Sr Úna O’Neill, Superior General of the Religious Sisters of Charity, stated in respect of it: While other Orders might have found that the “States of Fear” programme or other publications or broadcasts was their moment of realisation, I think it was the criminal conviction of that childcare worker that was a very significant moment certainly for me and those other Sisters who attended and for the Congregation subsequently. For us it was a brutal initiation into the reality of sexual abuse of the most depraved kind. While I would have read the Garda statements that the children made against this childcare worker, it became very real when the boys were asked to speak in Court and they described a most horrific litany of terror and hurt and humiliation and pain and powerlessness. It was at that moment I think for us as a Congregation it became real. I am not saying we accepted it or understood it, but it became real for us then.

108

The second apology was issued at the sentencing of a male childcare worker in St Joseph’s in 1997, and Sr Úna O’Neill, Superior General of the Religious Sisters of Charity, stated in respect of it: While other Orders might have found that the “States of Fear” programme or other publications or broadcasts was their moment of realisation, I think it was the criminal conviction of that childcare worker that was a very significant moment certainly for me and those other Sisters who attended and for the Congregation subsequently. For us it was a brutal initiation into the reality of sexual abuse of the most depraved kind. While I would have read the Garda statements that the children made against this childcare worker, it became very real when the boys were asked to speak in Court and they described a most horrific litany of terror and hurt and humiliation and pain and powerlessness. It was at that moment I think for us as a Congregation it became real. I am not saying we accepted it or understood it, but it became real for us then.

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The third apology was issued when another childcare worker from St Josephs, Kilkenny was convicted: We are appalled that a care worker employed at St. Josephs for 9 months from 76 to 77 abused children in his care and we are offering counselling services etc. He came to St. Josephs as a qualified care worker, had excellent references from his former employees in the UK, and was interviewed by representatives from St. Josephs and from the Department of Education ... Peter McNamara’s27 abuse of the children at St. Josephs has caused untold misery for the men involved. Nothing can make up for what happened to them and we deeply regret their suffering.

109

The third apology was issued when another childcare worker from St Josephs, Kilkenny was convicted: We are appalled that a care worker employed at St. Josephs for 9 months from 76 to 77 abused children in his care and we are offering counselling services etc. He came to St. Josephs as a qualified care worker, had excellent references from his former employees in the UK, and was interviewed by representatives from St. Josephs and from the Department of Education ... Peter McNamara’s27 abuse of the children at St. Josephs has caused untold misery for the men involved. Nothing can make up for what happened to them and we deeply regret their suffering.

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Sr Úna O’Neill’s evidence on the background to these apologies is dealt with in detail in the chapter on the Sisters of Charity.

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Sr Úna O’Neill’s evidence on the background to these apologies is dealt with in detail in the chapter on the Sisters of Charity.

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Sr Úna O’Neill said that the Congregation contributed to the Redress Fund because: we had a number of civil cases before the Court at that time ... We had had the experience, I had the experience of attending these court cases and I had seen what that process had done particularly to the men who had taken the cases against us. I had spoken to them about the experience with both of them. I saw what it did with both the volunteers and the staff who had to testify. There was a strong pastoral reason for us not subjecting anybody to that kind of process if we could avoid it. We also felt the definition of abuse was so broad that it would invite many more cases against us and in fact that has proved to be the case. There has been a very, very significant increase in the number of cases that have come in from 2000 up to today, very significant increase for those that had come in beforehand. We also felt that if we didnt contribute to the scheme, maybe we were wrong in this, we felt that perhaps the Redress scheme would give a partial payment to the children and then they would seek the rest from us through legal means and that would have been the same reason as I have given beforehand.

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Sr Úna O’Neill said that the Congregation contributed to the Redress Fund because: we had a number of civil cases before the Court at that time ... We had had the experience, I had the experience of attending these court cases and I had seen what that process had done particularly to the men who had taken the cases against us. I had spoken to them about the experience with both of them. I saw what it did with both the volunteers and the staff who had to testify. There was a strong pastoral reason for us not subjecting anybody to that kind of process if we could avoid it. We also felt the definition of abuse was so broad that it would invite many more cases against us and in fact that has proved to be the case. There has been a very, very significant increase in the number of cases that have come in from 2000 up to today, very significant increase for those that had come in beforehand. We also felt that if we didnt contribute to the scheme, maybe we were wrong in this, we felt that perhaps the Redress scheme would give a partial payment to the children and then they would seek the rest from us through legal means and that would have been the same reason as I have given beforehand.

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The Christian Brothers were involved in six industrial schools and one residential school for deaf boys, as well as numerous primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. This is discussed fully in the General Chapter on the Christian Brothers.

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The Christian Brothers were involved in six industrial schools and one residential school for deaf boys, as well as numerous primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. This is discussed fully in the General Chapter on the Christian Brothers.


Footnotes
  1. Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, Initial Report on Terms of Reference, 7th September 1999.
  2. Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, Report on Terms of Reference, 14th October 1999.
  3. Amendments were also made by the Residential Institutions Redress Act, 2002: See Section 32.
  4. Section 1 of the Principal Act, as amended by section 3 of the 2005 Act.
  5. Section 15(1) of the Principal Act, as amended by section 10 of the 2005 Act.
  6. Section 16 of the Principal Act as amended by section 11 of the 2005 Act.
  7. Section 4(6) as substituted by section 4 of the 2005 Act.
  8. Section 12(1) of the Principal Act, as amended by section 7 of the 2005 Act.
  9. Section 12(1)(d)(iii), as amended by section 7(c) of the 2005 Act.
  10. Section 14, as amended by section 9 of the 2005 Act.
  11. Section 14(1)(a) of the Principal Act.
  12. Section 14(1)(b)–(d) of the Principal Act.
  13. Section 14(1)(e) of the Principal Act.
  14. Section 14(8) of the Principal Act, as inserted by section 9 of the 2005 Act.
  15. Section 14(9) of the Principal Act, as inserted by section 9 of the 2005 Act.
  16. Section 14(11) of the Principal Act, as inserted by section 9 of the 2005 Act.
  17. Section 14(10) of the Principal Act, as amended by section 9 of the 2005 Act.
  18. Section 14(14) of the Principal Act, as inserted by section 9 of the 2005 Act.
  19. Section 14 of the Principal Act, as amended by section 9 of the 2005 Act.
  20. Section 13 of the Principal Act, as amended by section 8 of the 2005 Act.
  21. Section 1(1) of the Principal Act.
  22. ‘Dear Daughter’ was a dramatised programme broadcast in 1996 by RTE which featured Goldenbridge Industrial School.
  23. There were three programmes broadcast by RTE in 1999 in the ‘States of Fear’ series: ‘Industrial Schools and Reformatories from the 1940s–1980s’, ‘The Legacy of Industrial Schools’, and ‘Sick and Disabled Children in Institutions’.
  24. Under the terms of the indemnity agreement reached with the Religious Congregations on 5th June 2002, the Congregations agreed to make a contribution of €128 million towards the redress scheme. This was broken down as follows: cash contribution €41.14 million; provision of counselling services €10 million and property transfers €76.86 million.
  25. An organisation funded by the Congregations that provides counselling for persons who have been abused by religious Orders and Congregations.
  26. This is dealt with in full in the chapter on St Joseph’s Industrial School, Greenmount.
  27. This is a pseudonym.
  28. Cork VEC – Cork Vocational Education Committees.
  29. FÁS – Training and employment authority.
  30. See Third Interim Report, chapter 4.