Chapter 15 — Daingean

Introduction

Lord Powerscourt, who owned the land at Glencree, offered the Dublin Catholic Reformatory Committee the abandoned barracks at Glencree for use as a reformatory. They accepted the offer and approached the Oblates and asked them to run the School. The Oblates had no experience of such work, but were known to be concerned for the poor. Having taken on the responsibility of caring for juvenile offenders, the Oblates tried to educate themselves about the running of reformatories, and went to France and Belgium to study models for such a school. They looked at the penal settlement at Mettray, created in 1840 by Frédéric-Auguste Demetz, based upon Rousseau’s concept that man could be improved through contact with the land. Boys there were in ‘families’, with each family having an adult head of household who imposed a regime of hard work and severe punishments for lapses in the boys. The Oblates decided this system of dividing the boys up into smaller groups could not be used because of the nature of the buildings at Glencree, which would not allow the small family unit approach. The old barracks, in short, determined the nature of the regime.

The Oblates moved into the barracks at Glencree in 1858. It was in need of much repair and its first Superior set about using the boys to reclaim and cultivate the land of more than 100 acres. The aim was to make the Institution self-sufficient. Its isolation, and the poor roads and transport, made this objective a pressing one. For years, supplies had to be brought in over the difficult mountain road that could become impassable in winter. In a very short space of time, it soon reached full capacity.

Just 12 years later the Oblates opened a second reformatory. It was certified on 22nd December 1870, and became known as Daingean.

The Oblates worked in St Kevin’s, Glencree from 1857 until 1940, with a break between 1927 until 1934, and in St Conleth’s, Daingean from 1870 until 1973, with a break between 1934 until 1940, when it was an Oblate Scholasticate. They worked at Scoil Ard Mhuire, Oberstown, which was opened after the closure of Daingean from 1973 until 1984. The Oblates withdrew from the management of the School in 1984.

Provincial Archivist, Fr Michael Hughes in his evidence to the Investigation Committee at Phase I stated: The place where we parted company with the State in Scoil Ard Mhuire was that ultimately they would not—they were not prepared to sanction a sufficient number of staff members to cover all the responsibilities and we felt at that stage that we should withdraw.

The Department of Education appointed a Board of Management to run the School from that date onwards.

The Oblates, in their General Statement given to the Investigation Committee, asserted that they had high ideals. They ‘brought a vision of their own’ to the work, ‘arising from their long experience in this work and their nature as a religious order. The work was accepted as a mission: the Christian welfare of the boys, their rehabilitation in so far as they were wayward, and their preparation to earn their livelihood so far as possible. They developed a tradition going back to 1857’.

The Oblate General Statement described the characteristics of this tradition as it was put into practice in Daingean: A substantial staff, mostly religious brothers and priests, but lay staff too A well-established administrative structure A remedial education programme Vocational training in various trades and occupations A routine of instruction and work The assignment of the boys to a Brother in a school/training group whose task it was to integrate the newcomer into the life of the School The separation of juniors from seniors A sacramental religious framework An insistence on discipline Encouragement of sporting activities, and other leisure activities such as drama and music Many external contacts Help in finding a job An aftercare programme. The re-establishment of Daingean

The conditions that led to the re-establishment of Daingean was not a decision that was taken without considerable debate, since the move involved taking some 200 boys under Garda escort to a new residence nearly 60 miles away, and much further from the boys’ own homes.

Glencree was in a state of disrepair from the beginning. An internal memorandum written by Mr Derrig,1 the Minister for Education, dated 10th July 1939 began: I visited this place recently and was very disappointed to find it in such a bad state of repair. I have come to the conclusion that it is very doubtful whether, even with large expenditure, the present buildings can be brought up to a satisfactory standard.

Within the same memorandum he suggested that substantial reforms needed to be made in the area of teacher training, provision of practical training and the setting up of a visiting committee.

A subsequent memorandum elaborated on this theme. Mr Derrig asserted: the basis of the present system is defective and possibly will continue so, so long as maintenance and improvements as well as payments to staff have to be made out of the capitation payment. ... My personal view is that if we are going to make a change from Glencree we shall have to face up to the question of providing a new institution properly equipped, and we may also have to provide special aid for staffing.

At this time the thinking within the Department of Education was for drastic change, with the need for such measures an urgent priority. The Minister for Education, Mr Derrig, had paid a visit to Glencree and had ‘formed the opinion that it would be difficult to make the buildings suitable for their purpose’. Moreover, the memorandum added, ‘The management did not impress the Minister as being efficient or satisfactory’.

The Department had gone so far as to consult the Presentation Brothers about the matter, but the urgent need for economy forced the Department to ‘defer consideration of the proposal to change the Reformatory to new accommodation and management, and to try to get the premises at Glencree improved as much as possible’.

The outbreak of war in 1939 meant all plans had to be suspended. The Resident Manager of Glencree wrote to the Department, acknowledging the appalling conditions there and the debts owed by the School to the parishes and to the Oblate Congregation totalling over £3,200.