Chapter 12 — Salthill

Neglect and emotional abuse

By the time of the Visitation in February 1956, many renovations and improvements had been made to the boys’ kitchen, bathrooms, dining hall, school rooms and workshops. New equipment was introduced to the kitchen and an immersion heater installed. Improvements were again acknowledged in the Report of 1957, particularly to the dormitories and kitchen.

The 1958 Visitation Report noted that hot water was now available in the dormitories and that the boys had baths every fortnight.

Major repair works took place during the early 1960s, which saw a new block constructed housing a dormitory and bathroom facilities. The primary school building was updated and new furniture purchased. A central heating system was installed.

Fr Henry Moore, who wrote a critical report on Artane in the early 1960, was complimentary about Salthill. He said that he had visited a number of industrial schools at that time, including Salthill. He knew the Manager in Salthill, as they had been raised in the same orphanage: Now, albeit it was a very small school in comparison to Artane, I was very impressed by his management and by the way he treated the boys. They looked very well, they were very well dressed and I was quite happy with my experience there ... I thought Salthill was more civilised and more happier.

A more critical approach was adopted by the Visitor in 1967, who noted: The boys here range from infants to young men at work in the town or attending the technical school. All perforce are treated alike – young and old. The same type of discipline is used from the time he enters the school until he leaves it. Older boys resent this. None of the men with the exception of the Superior has any special training for this work. This is acknowledged by the staff and lamented. Each child is a problem and requires special treatment – perhaps individual would be a better word than special – until he becomes stabilised.: The young Brothers know little or nothing about the previous history of their boys – there are no record cards available.

He thought that, once the boys reached the age of 12, they should be transferred to Artane. The Visitor did not agree with the writer of the previous year’s Visitation Report that the Brothers were doing a good job in Salthill. However, he did not blame the staff, as they were doing the best they could with the resources they had at their disposal. He criticised the frequent change in staff, as just when they had established a relationship with the boys, invariably they would be moved on. He added: Perhaps we put too much stress on academic training – lessons in hygiene in personal cleaniness – in care of clothes – in polishing of shoes – in using of laces in their shoes – in combing of hair of walking without slouching are all of great importance for these boys. I thought the boys were badly clad and untidy. If we were inspected by an outside authority we would not be pleased with the report ... We need two things for this school 1) more money 2) more trained staff. We need a few nuns more so than in Artane – the boys here seem more helpless.

Six years later, little seemed to have changed.

In 1973, the Visitor was extremely condemnatory of the School. He noted that the boys in Salthill were generally more disturbed than the boys in Letterfrack and that, by comparison, the School was understaffed. This was a disturbing comparison because Letterfrack was operated as a junior remand home for boys who had committed criminal offences. Both the age and the number of staff were concerns in this regard. He noted, ‘The lack of female assistance is apparent as well as the need for such evidenced by the way the boys flock around the assistant cook when she is cleaning around the home’.

He expressed concern at the fate of boys leaving the School: The traditional practice has been to place the boys in ‘digs’ when they become apprentices, but recently this has not worked out satisfactorily. For some reason, possibly because more disturbed boys are being admitted, they are not emotionally prepared for such independence and rather startling reactions have occurred when they have been so placed. Consequently more of them are remaining at the home and the problem of how to deal with them is becoming acute. For any boy, of course, to be sent into the world on his own with no family or friends at the age of 15 and with very little earning ability can be a shattering experience and perhaps the policy needs to be reconsidered.

The Brother noted the plan to instigate a group home system with the 50 boys in residence and welcomed this initiative. He was critical of the lack of recreational facilities available for the boys, watching TV being the main pastime.

He feared that ‘The present policy would seem to be to let [the School] run on (or perhaps run down) with a view to its ultimate demise’.

He warned that: The present situation whereby the boys end up after ten years with us frightened, immature, resentful with little prospect for their self support is unfair both to them and to the Brothers concerned as well as harmful to the good name of the Congregation.

The Visitor proposed a number of recommendations for the future sustainability of the School which included: i.that a suitable Brother be appointed to accept responsibility for the Senior boys ... His main duties would be to assist them in the transition from institutional to normal social life, to teach them the social graces e.g. behaviour at social affairs (none of the apprentices can now attend a dance – they must be in by 10pm) to support them in their apprenticeship difficulties, to help them to accept personal responsibility for their life as they enter the adult world. Such a Brother therefore should not have the institutional mentality or be engrossed in the child-care approach. An example of a suitable person is Brother ... presently studying at the hostel though it would hardly be fair to interfere with his studies at the present time ... ii.that the plans proposed by the Manager of renovating the former infirmary as a group home for the apprentices is approved in principle. However, the visitor felt that, if this plan of providing a separate home is accepted, it should be done thoroughly and not on a patch-work basis since a large factor in the success of making these boys self-respecting and socially acceptable will be the home environment in which they find themselves and of which they can be proud. Hot and cold water, central heating, suitable and adequate showering facilities and pleasant rooms for sleeping and recreation are important even though they will obviously be rather expensive. iii.that the further plans of the Manager for dividing the boys into groups with their own home-areas be examined sympathetically. iv.that the assistant cook (or other lady) be employed to take care of the dormitory of the younger boys and of their clothing. In general the bed linen of the boys is not changed frequently enough, they get changes of underclothing only once a week. v.that a suitable ‘dig’ be rented by the school and used to train the apprentices in social behaviour. This could be done by placing each apprentice there for a two or three-week period and making arrangements with the landlady for reports on their behaviour. Since the boys would know that they would be shortly returning to the Home, they would not experience the feeling of panic at the prospect as they do now and they would not be completely on their own. vi.that financial arrangements be made to assist the apprentices in their digs until their income is adequate for their own support ... vii. ... Perhaps the greatest need of the boys is to achieve some sense of individuality, the very nature of an institution militates against this.

The remainder of the Visitation Reports for the 1970s noted the changing face of the School. A group home-style system was put in place and female staff hired. The type of boy resident in the School also subtly changed over time so that, by the late 1970s, it mainly provided shelter for boys from broken homes who had emotional or psychological needs.

The problems were still acute, however, and two groups of local people were sufficiently concerned to write letters setting out their concerns.