Chapter 5 — Investigation Committee Report - preliminary issues

The Investigation Committee’s method of investigation

Phase II hearings, the private hearings into specific allegations of abuse in institutions, then commenced. When the private hearings were completed, the Phase III public hearings enabled the Congregations to respond to the evidence.

The Phase III public hearings also included the Departments of Education and Science; Justice, Equality and Law Reform; and Health and Children, as well as hearings into the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC).

At these Phase III hearings, legal teams that had represented substantial numbers of complainants were engaged by the Investigation Committee to cross-examine relevant witnesses. Counsel and solicitors on those occasions took the role of amicus curiae, which is that of a person whose role is to assist a court in a case where it is thought necessary to have interests represented when they are not parties in the action. The Committee expresses its gratitude to counsel and solicitors for performing this role so ably and helpfully. Submissions were sought and received from complainants and respondents heard following these hearings.

Hearings

The Rosminian Institute was unique among the Religious Congregations and Orders in its approach. Management and members were candid in their admissions, they were supportive of the work of the investigation, and they were sympathetic to their ex-residents. Other Congregations adopted a more defensive attitude and were more sceptical of evidence of abuse.

Some Congregations appeared more concerned with discrediting the complainant than with finding out what had happened in its institution. No person or body should have been more concerned with uncovering instances of abuse than the Religious Congregations that ran the schools. However, some Congregations perceived allegations as an attack on the whole Congregation and adopted a defensive position, which militated against the truth emerging.

Contamination

Difficulties arose from the matters being investigated and the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Commission and the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

The events in question happened a long time ago. Most industrial schools had been closed by the mid-1970s. When the Investigation Committee hearings took place, many of the incidents recalled had taken place at least 40 years prior to that.

The Investigation Committee heard from witnesses some of whom had endured lives of hardship and poverty, and many had been afflicted by physical illnesses and psychological problems. Some had experienced substance addictions that tended to impair memory. Many witnesses at private hearings acknowledged such misfortunes.

Outside events had the potential to influence evidence given by witnesses. Following the ‘Dear Daughter’ programme in 1996, which documented allegations of abuse in Goldenbridge Industrial School, there was a flood of publicity about abuse in institutions. There were television programmes such as ‘States of Fear’, which were broadcast by RTE in April and May 1999 dealing with institutional abuse, which attracted enormous public interest and comment. The largest institutions such as Artane and Goldenbridge were often discussed in all the media, including the internet. Books of reminiscences appeared, and one major study, ‘Suffer the Little Children’ by Raftery and O’Sullivan,2 was published.

The campaign for recognition and redress continued after the establishment of the Commission. Many meetings were held by victims’ groups in Ireland and the UK. They were also used to organise complainants to participate in the Commission’s work. These meetings were well attended. Members of the audience participated and, on occasions, recounted their experiences of abuse in the institutions. These meetings were another source of potential influence and suggestion to witnesses.

Attending meetings to press for a Redress Scheme, and to provide generally for advantageous conditions for victims of abuse, was not wrong, and it was entirely to be expected that people would attend and would describe their experiences. Witnesses who attended the meetings, however, were very defensive and reticent about what went on. The Committee is satisfied that, at some of these meetings, individual accounts of abuse were recounted in detail and individuals were identified.

Yet another source of potential pressure and influence on witnesses complaining of abuse was to be found in the developments that led to the enactment of the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act, 2000.

The story of the amendment to the Statute of Limitations Act, 1957 can usefully begin with the Taoiseach’s announcement of the package of redress measures on 11th May 1999, when this Commission was also announced. The Taoiseach announced that the Government would amend the 1957 legislation to enable victims to bring claims for sexual abuse, but it was not anticipated at the time that physical abuse would be included. The progress of the Amendment Bill through the Oireachtas was followed closely, and was discussed at meetings of victims groups all over Ireland and the UK. The Government referred the question to the Law Reform Commission, whose consideration and report also gave rise to public interest. The solution that was put in place in the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act, 2000 was confined to sexual abuse. The Residential Institutions Redress Act, 2002 was not so confined, and extended to the full range of abuse with which this investigation is concerned. There was an important period during which there was real concern that compensation might be restricted to cases of sexual abuse.

The amendment to the Statute of Limitations conferred an entitlement to bring a late claim on persons who, by virtue of the trauma associated with sexual abuse, had been unable to bring a claim within the existing limitation period. In addition, it provided for an extension of time to claim for victims who had spoken about their experiences and who therefore would have had difficulty in proving the necessary psychological impairment required by the Act. Such a person qualified by fulfilling one of two conditions, namely: (a) the claimant had consulted a solicitor and had been advised that the claim was statute barred; or (b) the claimant had made a report to An Garda Síochana about sexual abuse within one year prior to the enactment of the legislation.

People giving evidence about events that occurred many years ago in their childhoods might not be precise on detail. Many of them were young children in large institutions, in which the adults dressed the same and were known as ‘Sister’, ‘Brother’, ‘Father’ or by surnames, religious names or nicknames. In addition, staff came and went, and sometimes stayed only for very short periods of time.