Chapter 7 — Artane

Introduction

The Investigation Committee also heard evidence from Dr Paul McQuaid, consultant psychiatrist, who was a regular visitor to Artane in the late 1960s.

The Investigation Committee engaged experts to prepare reports on Artane. Mazars, a firm of accountants and financial consultants, analysed the accounts of the Institution and produced a report which was provided to the Congregation for comment and response. The issues concerning Artane are analysed in the Mazars’ report which is dealt with in Vol IV. As indicated above, Mr Ciaran Fahy, consulting engineer, prepared a report on the buildings and lands of the Institution, which was similarly sent for comment and which is also annexed (to the chapter).

The Investigation Committee received submissions from the Christian Brothers in relation to Artane in February 2007. A number of complainants and individual respondents also made written submissions on the oral and documentary evidence that emerged during the inquiry.

The Christian Brothers made similar submissions regarding Artane as they made in relation to other institutions. In particular, they submitted that: an analysis of all the evidence before the Commission strongly suggests that, at a time of significant economic deprivation in the State, the Congregation fully and properly discharged its legal and moral obligations to care for the boys in Artane and that it did so notwithstanding limited financial and related support from the State. Further, in spite of considerable restrictions, the Congregation adopted a progressive and reforming approach to childcare which became particularly apparent in the 1960s. When one takes all of the evidence before the Commission into account, there can be no doubt that, at all times, the welfare and best interests of the boys was the paramount concern of the Congregation and of its members who worked in Artane. The evidence would also suggest that the quality of care which was thus provided to the boys was, in all the circumstances, of a particularly high standard.

The Congregation accepted that the regime was mainly one of physical care and did not encompass much in the way of emotional attention. The Brothers denied that the Institution was generally an abusive one, and their fundamental contention was that Artane was a positive Institution which generally was a force for good.

With regard to sexual abuse, they acknowledged that such incidents had happened, and they greatly regretted them. They said that, as a Congregation, it did not tolerate such behaviour and the available evidence, they claimed, showed that they responded appropriately according to the norms of the time, even if present standards would condemn them.

As to allegations of physical abuse, the Congregation was also generally defensive. It maintained that this issue had to be seen in the context of the time, when corporal punishment was permitted, not only in industrial schools but in all schools, and was also common in homes across the country. Moreover, the Christian Brothers’ own rules forbade excessive punishment and encouraged a minimalist approach to the physical punishment of children. Where excessive punishment occurred, it was disapproved of, and the records of the Congregation showed that, where instances came to light, they were the subject of comment and criticism. A Disciplinarian was employed in the School to deal with all serious breaches of discipline, and that promoted consistency of treatment.

They maintained that there was overall a good relationship between Brothers and boys in Artane, and the picture of a frightening regime with a climate of fear was a misrepresentation of the situation.

The positions adopted by individual respondents were more consistent with the evidence of the complainants.

In accordance with the legislation, the Committee was required to determine what abuse took place in Artane, how it happened, how much of the particular abuse was perpetrated, and why it happened. This chapter addresses the different forms of abuse, which can be summarised as physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and emotional abuse. The method adopted in this and other chapters, in dealing with specific abuse, is first to analyse documentary material which may be considered reliable, and then to proceed to the oral evidence given by complainants and respondents, and to relate it where appropriate to the documented evidence. A further question has also to be considered, namely whether the Institution provided a safe, secure environment for the boys who were detained in it.

With regard to the oral evidence of complainants, the Congregation in its submissions drew attention to features that it maintained detracted from the credibility and reliability of testimony of abuse. It pointed out that the events in question happened many years ago, and witnesses’ memories were less reliable because of the lapse of time. They also pointed to interference of independent recollection by reason of contact with other former residents and by attendance at meetings promoted by campaigning groups. Other relevant features included media publicity and issues of compensation. These problems were exacerbated in the investigation of Artane because it was the biggest institution and one of the most controversial.

Any investigation of an institution such as Artane has to be aware of the possibility that evidence may be lacking in credibility or reliability for many reasons. Memories can indeed be affected by lapse of time. Witnesses whose credibility is not in issue may nevertheless be mistaken in their recollection of particular events. Influences may operate even subconsciously. A tendency to exaggerate the details of events also cannot be overlooked. Some witnesses intentionally set out to give untruthful evidence. The campaign for recognition and redress for wrongs alleged to have been committed in the past was not a reason to reject the testimony of everybody involved. The fact that witnesses attended meetings or spoke to others was relevant in considering the value of their evidence, but was not a basis for rejecting it as necessarily unreliable.

There can be no general rule, in Artane or elsewhere, either to accept or to reject the evidence of witnesses who may have been affected by factors tending to reduce the reliability of their evidence. Each witness has to be considered individually. As with evidence in a civil or criminal trial in court, the Committee may accept or reject the whole or any part of the testimony offered.

Grounds for questioning reliability of evidence were not confined to complainants. Respondents also were subject to lapses of memory and potential distortions of recollection. In some cases, the reliability of evidence could have been affected by the gravity of the allegations made against respondents themselves or against their colleagues; loyalty and affection for others, and for the Institution and the Congregation, may also have had a distorting influence on their testimony.

The approach taken by the Committee, of proceeding from analysis of documentary material containing contemporary accounts of incidents and then, where possible, assessing the oral evidence by reference thereto, tended to lessen the occasions where it was necessary to choose between witnesses asserting and denying particular events.