Chapter 10 — Carriglea

Emotional abuse and neglect

Although the two trades of boot-making and tailoring appear to have been well run, very few boys were engaged in them at any time.

In 1944, when there were 255 boys in the Institution, the situation was as follows: Farm – 4; Tailor’s shop – 15; and Bootmaker’s – 15.

The Visitor in 1944 was critical of the fact that the number of boys working on the farm had dropped to four, considering that this was the occupation that ‘most of them will follow’. The Visitor commented: These trades are essential for the school as all the clothing and boots required by the boys are made here under the direction of two capable foremen. Many of the boys reach a good stage of proficiency in these two trades before leaving the school.

In 1946, the Visitor gave the following numbers working in the trades: Farm – about 15; Tailor’s shop – 20; Bootmaker’s – about 20.

The 1946 Visitation Report stated: As the Institution should be vocational it is desirable that the Trades should be restored ... Laundry and knitting are the immediate requirements. Carpentry and painting could be introduced later.

The Visitor in that year also felt that: The Band should also be restored as it would give a tone to the Institution and give the pupils an interest in Music and culture.

The band had been discontinued at the end of the 1930s. However, in 1947 a retired Garda superintendent, a former past pupil and former director of the Garda Band, was engaged to direct musical training.

By 1948, apart from the re-establishment of the band, there were three trade shops in operation, with the addition of the knitting school, which was for the occupation of the younger boys. The farm, consisting of 115 acres (62 acres of which had been recently purchased), supplied the Industrial School with plenty of milk and vegetables.

One witness, who was resident in the School from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s, said that he had worked in the tailor’s shop in Carriglea after completing his Primary Certificate, and this had enabled him to obtain employment in a tailor’s shop upon his discharge.

Another witness who resided in the School in the early 1950s spoke of working in the knitting shop: First of all they took me on darning socks and I became an expert darner. They taught me to knit on four needles and I could knit socks and taper toes at the age of nine and a half.

This witness was of the view that these skills were taught so as to clothe the children in the Institution.

The Visitation Reports made it clear that trades were offered for the benefit of the Institution and not the boys. Apart from farming, only two trades were on offer in Carriglea and a handful of boys were engaged in them. The boys in Carriglea were not equipped with suitable skills for working after they left the School.

The Visitation Reports noted that there was no dancing, no manual instruction, no physical drill and no organised games for the boys. There was no band, as it had ceased to operate at the end of the 1930s. The Congregation were unable to give any explanation as to the reason for its cessation. There was a gymnasium in the School but, in or about 1938, the Superior decided to use the hall as a lumber-room, and it was used to stockpile fuel and timber which was particularly useful during the war years.

The Superior General wrote to the Resident Manager on 3rd April 1938, expressing his concern at this initiative in the following terms: The Gymnasium is a lumber-room. This is strange in an age that is endeavouring to improve the physique of the rising generation.

The Visitation Reports for the first 10 years of the period under review catalogue a serious failure on the part of the School to provide occupation and recreation for the boys. Visitors noted that large numbers of boys had nothing to occupy them for long periods during the day, and went on to say that no organised games or activities were provided, which led ultimately to the complete degeneration of the behaviour of the boys who, out of boredom, resorted to immoral practices.