Chapter 7 — Artane

Neglect

He then asked the very pertinent question: Would a boy who has served as a tinsmith for two years and who has to go into a post of a very different type for which he has received no training have a grievance? Would he feel that he had been exploited for two years? Are the Brothers justified for economic reasons in putting a boy at such work when they know that he is almost certain not to continue in it later? The nurse told me that one of her patients was a tinsmith against his will. He wanted to be a carpenter. I should have mentioned earlier that as far as is convenient the boys get their choice of trade.

The Visitor’s question deserves to be answered. Were the Brothers using the boys as child labour, or were they genuinely training the boys for trades that would give them a chance of finding employment? This was an issue identified by the Cussen Report as being problematic as far back as 1936.

The evidence is mixed. The majority of boys did not get jobs for which they had received training. Farming was the main activity to which boys were assigned in Artane, despite the majority coming from the city, and not surprisingly they tended to return to urban living. Boys who were taken on by farmers were let go once they were old enough to be paid full wages. As the Visitor had predicted, in later years they felt resentment that they had been used as child labour.

Some boys did enter trades for which they had been trained, and they spoke well of Artane. A complainant sent to Artane in the mid-1940s, who was trained as a decorator, was extremely complimentary of the quality of training that he received. Another complainant from this era, who was trained as a tailor, praised his lay instructor for the high standard of instruction. A witness who was committed to Artane in the early 1950s, and remained there for five years, was placed in the band where he played the drums in his last two years. He had very happy memories of his time with the band and was very complimentary of the Brother in charge.

A respondent who spent five years in Artane from the late 1950s gave evidence that the Superior and another Brother interviewed boys to see what areas they were interested in and, if they could facilitate their choices, they generally did so.

The Investigation Committee, however, heard many complaints that boys could not enter the trade they wanted. The low demand for farm training and the high level of farm work that needed to be done meant that many boys found themselves in farming, despite expressing preferences for other trades. Most of the boys worked on the farm, and there was no doubt that the main purpose of this work was to provide food and an income for the Institution.

Some boys were put into trades that had become obsolete, such as weaving and tailoring. One complainant explained: ‘Mass production was coming in and it was nearly all machinists ... Where once a tailor cut one suit, now they could cut 100 suits’.

Even when the trade was a needed one, there were problems. Br David Gibson explained at the public hearing on 16th June 2005 into Letterfrack: [The children] weren’t going through the normal apprenticeship and therefore when it came to them continuing their training, the training that they had already received was not accepted by the unions ... There was an inherent difficulty in the training that the young people were getting.

This issue was raised in the Cussen Report, but nothing was ever done to resolve it. The status quo was just accepted by both the Department and the Congregation and, as a result, boys trained in Artane continued to face real problems finding employment to suit their skills.

In conclusion: The Christian Brothers assumed a responsibility to provide training and they failed to do so for many of their pupils. Industrial training was a key objective of the system and the largest industrial school in the country should have provided it to a high standard but training was, to a large extent, only a by-product of work that met the needs of the Institution. In an era of high unemployment, it would have been impossible to place all the boys in jobs, and it would be unreasonable to criticise the Christian Brothers for failing in this regard. In many respects, they achieved a high level of employment for their school leavers. However, much of this employment was menial and exploitative and, for some, led to a lifetime of such work.

Fr Henry Moore stated in his report to Archbishop McQuaid in 1962 that ‘in my opinion the band is the only worthwhile achievement of the school’.

The band performed regularly in Croke Park at major GAA fixtures. They also toured the length and breadth of the country and broadcast shows on radio. The high point of their fame saw them perform at venues in New York and Boston, in May 1962, and included a television performance.

According to the Congregation, by the 1960s, approximately 80 boys were involved in the band at some level. This was a much higher number than in previous decades, when the participation was as low as 40 boys.

According to Fr Moore: The time used, the money spent, the number of engagements annually met are, I fear, out of all proportion to the results obtained. The maintenance of the band, although approximating £2,000 annually, is a continual strain on financial resources.

A Visitation Report in 1957 painted a different picture and stated that the band was on a ‘sure financial footing and more than paying its way’. Visitation Reports also reveal that, in 1938, the School received £215 in payments for band performances. It was operating at a loss in the early 1940s. By 1957, the band was earning the School just under £900 per annum.