Chapter 9 — Tralee

Neglect

Up to a half of the total of boys in trade were engaged in farm work. In 1960, a two-hour per week agricultural training course was established. Boys were readily employable as farm workers after they left, although at very low wages. The Christian Brothers admitted that many farmers were only prepared to take the boys until they became entitled to an adult wage, at which time they let them go. Whilst working as juveniles, they had their board and keep deducted, which left them with a bare pittance. Although there was undoubtedly an element of exploitation, there was, according to Br Nolan, at least the prospect of a job that was hard to come by in rural Ireland at that time.

Trades such as farming, carpentry, tailoring, boot-making and baking all directly contributed to the Institution. Clothing was made and repaired on the premises, and boots were repaired. In addition, in the 1947 Visitation Report it was stated that the tailors and shoemakers had a steadily growing clientele. There were about four older boys permanently in each shop. After school hours the number was raised to 16. The Committee does not have complete records, but the 1953 Visitation Report stated that income exceeded expenditure for the carpenters, tailors and boot-makers. The figures do not include the value of what was supplied to the Brothers or boys.

The carpenter’s shop was the most popular trade for the boys. According to the Christian Brothers’ Opening Statement, there were two excellent carpenters in Tralee. They carried out most of the renovations and innovations that were completed between 1940 and 1970 with the assistance of the boys. The men who taught the carpentry made the new chapel.32 They helped to build the handball alley and did a lot of renovation work. The furniture they made was sold in the nearby towns and was valued for the quality of the workmanship. It was recorded in 1937, 1951 and 1953 as having an income exceeding expenditure.33

Of the 431 boys who were discharged into trades between 1940 and 1969, 151 went into farming, and 112 went into service as a ‘houseboy’. Only 23 went into carpentry, and 20 into tailoring, 51 worked in hotels, and 24 worked as boot-makers.

Only trades of direct benefit to the school were offered and those that were provided, with the exception of farming, offered very limited employment opportunities. As the years went by, the trades became more and more irrelevant and outdated, but no changes were made to reflect this fact. Boys were prepared for a lifetime of labouring and menial tasks.

The Christian Brothers argued that the Resident Managers were left to deal with the matter of aftercare on a zero budget, with no resources, no transport and no relief from the existing burden of the work to be done in the school. It acknowledged that the result was that the ‘Aftercare Programme was unsatisfactory, and very much a hit and miss affair’.

In Tralee, contact with former residents and their employers was mainly by post. A letter was written to the employers, who effectively evaluated themselves. It was obviously ineffective as an assessment of the progress of the boy. This also meant that the boy was not in a position to communicate his situation to the Resident Manager. The Opening Statement explained that, in the early 1960s, a printed form was sent to employers once a year. No equivalent contact was made with the boys, however. In the Committee’s view, this was a substantial failing in the system.

According to the Christian Brothers, many of the boys emigrated soon after leaving Tralee, which impeded the implementation of a satisfactory aftercare programme for them.

In 1965, the Visitor said: The after care of the boys cannot be termed satisfactory. A number of boys go out to farmers but after a few years make their way to England. Some farmers keep them till they are 19 years of age and then let them off as they would be obliged to pay them a man’s wage.

In the follow-up letter to the Resident Manager, he was asked to give as much attention as possible to the aftercare of the boys.

Four of the 15 complainants heard by the Committee were followed up for the prescribed period of two years, according to the Register. Two of these complainants left the School in the 1940s, one in the early 1950s, and one in the late 1950s. There was no two-year follow-up for another nine of them, and follow-up was not applicable in respect of two boys as they did not go into employment on leaving Tralee.

Aftercare was inadequate, as was acknowledged by the Congregation.

Emotional abuse

In its Submission on St Joseph’s, Tralee, the Congregation wrote: The philosophy of care in industrial schools was one of physical care and emphasis was placed on hygiene, order, neatness, discipline and physical education.

It also emphasised that ‘the use of corporal punishment was accepted in both home and school and certain aspects of diet, clothing, heating and furnishing were different from our present standards’.

Throughout the relevant period, Tralee had Brothers who were unduly severe and harsh with the boys. Where physical punishment is perpetrated arbitrarily and excessively, a climate of fear builds up which can impact on every aspect of life in the institution. The boys lived in fear, and many complainants spoke of this undercurrent of fear in their everyday life in Tralee.