Chapter 7 — Artane

Sexual abuse

The statement in response to the allegation about Br Adrien filed by the Congregation was signed by a Brother who was in Artane for a period which overlapped for one year with the complainant’s stay. The Brother stated that, for the purpose of making his statement, he relied on his own knowledge and personal experience of Artane Industrial School. The statement addressed the issue of sexual abuse in Artane generally, in the same way as all statements signed by representatives of the Congregation.

The statement went on to deal with the specific allegations made by this complainant. It said, in relation to the particular campaign of physical abuse following Br Adrien’s departure, that ‘Whilst there was corporal punishment in Artane at that time, I do not believe that it amounted to the type of violent behaviour that is alleged by the complainant’. In support of this contention, the Congregation quoted the Visitation Report filed by the Congregation after a 1962 visit to the Institution. The Visitor stated: The discipline generally is good and the Superior as well as the Brothers in general are pleased with it. It is not harsh or severe by any means, but effective nevertheless.

The statement then dealt with the particular allegation that the complainant was taken out of his bed by a number of Brothers and beaten over a number of days as a result of having made the complaint to Fr Moore. It stated: I can state that I never saw boys being beaten in the manner alleged. I myself never witnessed such beatings, nor did I ever hear allegations of beating of this wide-ranging nature while I was in Artane. The only punishment authorised was with a leather strap and this could only be administered on the hand. I find it difficult to accept that such a large number of brothers would gang up in the manner alleged and cause such disturbance in the school without being detected. The Brothers who are still alive may make their own response to these allegations. Each of these allegations against each of these respondents is not admitted by the Congregation.

It was not alleged by the complainant that this wide-ranging punishment took place during this Brother’s time in Artane. The complainant specified the year in which this event took place, and this was after the departure of this Brother from Artane. There are Christian Brothers in the Congregation who were in Artane during that time and who would have been in a position to speak with more authority on this matter, but they were not selected to make the statement on behalf of the Christian Brothers in this case.

In relation to the allegations of sexual abuse by Br Adrien, the Christian Brothers stated: ‘[Br Adrien] will make his own response to these allegations. They are not admitted by the Congregation. The Congregation denies that sexual abuse was tolerated, accepted or prevalent in Artane’.

Br Adrien was removed from Artane and sent to a day school in Dublin. In the late 1960s, he was returned to Letterfrack for a number of months, following which he went to a Dublin school for 10 years. He later spent 10 years on missionary work. There is no reference in his personal card to his ever receiving any sanction or warning in relation to his abuse.

Sexual abuse by Brothers was a serious issue in Artane, but many Brothers said that they had absolutely no awareness of this problem and no knowledge of any Brother leaving under a cloud.

This Brother in the 1960s was in a position to perpetrate serious and repeated sexual abuse of a boy over an 18-month period. The boy was, by his own evidence and by the evidence of Fr Moore, too afraid to report it himself to the Superior, which contradicts the Congregation’s assertion that there was no difficulty about boys who were sexually abused going to the authorities in Artane with complaints. Br Adrien was removed from Letterfrack, where it was ‘positively dangerous’ to have him looking after boys. The implication is clear that he sexually abused boys there. Transferring him to a residential school for deaf boys knowingly endangered a large new group of children. His behaviour in Artane could not have come as a surprise to the authorities. This case demonstrates indifference by the Congregation to the protection of children from a sexual predator. It is evidence of a policy of avoiding the disclosure of abuse rather than dealing with it.

Br Dennis served in Artane in the late 1960s. He was questioned by the Gardaí in the early 1990s in relation to allegations of interfering with boys, in a school in the north-east of the country, on two occasions between the late 1980s and early 1990s. He denied the allegations at the time, but when questioned about them again almost 10 years later he admitted to a limited level of sexual abuse involving these boys. He also admitted to getting sexual gratification from young boys. Br Dennis told the Gardaí that in the mid-1990s his Superiors sent him to the Granada Institute, a centre for the treatment of sex offenders in Shankhill County Dublin which was operated by the St John of God Order.

Br Dennis also admitted the allegations which had been made by former residents of Artane, insofar as they described inappropriate external touching and fondling. Although these individuals alleged masturbation and anal rape, he did not admit to those more serious charges: ... I wish to say that I accept some of the allegations as being true, insofar as they describe inappropriate external touching and fondling. I deny however any of the allegations that refer to masturbation and buggery.

Only one man who had made a statement to the Gardaí about Br Dennis gave evidence to the Investigation Committee. He alleged that Br Dennis told him to clean his room and, while he was doing so, the Brother took out his penis and then ‘he brought my head down onto his penis which was erect and he rubbed it against my lips’. On another occasion when he was sent to clean the room, Br Dennis ‘started fondling me and played with my penis. He pressed himself against me and ejaculated’. The witness described a third incident that he said took place, in a derelict area near the playing fields, at holiday time when most of the boys had gone home for holidays. He said that this time the Brother had his penis out and attempted penetration, but gave up when the boy screamed with pain.

Br Dennis attended an oral hearing of the Investigation Committee. He admitted to a limited degree of sexual activity with nine- to 12-year-old boys in Artane. He was asked how he began to abuse. He said: I don’t know how it came about really. At the time I probably deluded myself into thinking that I was being kind to them and using it as a way of encouraging them and making them – I mean, I don’t subscribe to it now, but that’s how I was able to justify it to myself at the time.

Br Dennis had no recollection of the first time he had abused, but was able to confirm that it had occurred in the classroom: If somebody was having difficulty with a particular problem, mathematics perhaps, I might bring him up and put my arm around his waist or something, and kind of draw him towards me.

He conceded that he had no idea how many boys were involved. He said that the activity had commenced within six months of his arriving in Artane and continued until he had left two years later. He said that it continued ‘fairly regular’ for an 18-month period.

He said he only stopped sexually abusing some 20 years later, when he was detected.