Chapter 11 — Dundalk

Physical abuse

Elaine spoke of ‘harshness’. She recounted several instances of beatings. One occasion was when she asked the then Resident Manager if she could sit the scholarship examinations for the secondary school. She was bright and loved school. When she made her request the Resident Manager ‘beat [her] within an inch of [her] life for taking that scholarship from people outside’.

The worst part was the fear of the punishment, and the waiting to be punished. She described one nun as ‘very rough ... for an old nun’ and added: She would give you six of the best and you would be lined up for half an hour before you got the six of the best, so the trauma of waiting to be punished and then being punished. They could be punished for little or nothing, for talking after lights out at bedtime: It didn’t have to be anything in particular ... Because ... we were always told we were bold anyway so it didn’t matter.

She recalled two other occasions when she was beaten. One was when she was aged 12 or 14 years and was in charge of younger children on a walk. Because she was unable to time the walk, they went too far away and returned hours late and she was beaten with a stick. The second occasion was when young children in her care contracted ringworm and she was beaten for that.

She also complained of being struck by a member of the lay staff, one of a number of young women from a domestic college in the west of Ireland who were sent to St Joseph’s on work placement for approximately one year.

The witness recalled this lay staff member as being very rough with the children: But she would often get a child and she would pull her by the hair and swing her, only the wall would stop the person. They would go sliding down. She broke every brush we ever had in the house. We didn’t have many ... She would be murdering them, using them as rulers. She just flogged people. When she left the place, and she was only there for a year, there wasn’t a brush in the place when she left.

The children did not complain about this staff member and she completed her placement. The witness explained that there was no one to complain to: I don’t think that any of us had the knowledge or the wherewithal to complain. We were at these people’s mercy.

On the other hand, although physical punishment from the nuns was not as severe, she found what she called the psychological abuse more damaging: I wish sometimes they would have beaten the living daylights out of me, it would have been easier, but the psychological abuse, it stays forever and ever and ever.

Jane,3 who was resident in the Institution in the late 1960s and early 1970s, gave evidence of being caned frequently by the Resident Manager. She admitted that she was ‘a bit on the wild side’, and got into trouble in the school. Jane further stated that the Resident Manager who punished her was also very good to her.

An unusual feature of St Joseph’s, Dundalk is the existence of a punishment book, which covers the period 1888 to 1950. The Institution is unique among Sisters of Mercy industrial schools in being able to produce such a record. There is no explanation for its discontinuation in 1950.

Punishment books were required by the regulations governing industrial schools, but there was a failure generally to comply with this requirement. They were intended to control the level of corporal punishment administered and should have had an impact on the nature of the punishments given.

If the book is an accurate record, it indicates minimal use of corporal punishment and employment of a range of deprivations for misconduct by children, but the evidence before the Committee casts doubt on the completeness of the information in the punishment book. Girls could be beaten on the spot and capriciously by all staff members, and none of that was recorded.

The Sisters of Mercy, in preparing for the St Joseph’s hearings, obtained information ‘from people who had contact with St Joseph’s in the period under review, including former staff, residents, professionals, Sisters of St Malachy’s Community, former Superiors of the convent, volunteers and neighbours’. The Opening Statement summarised the information obtained from these sources: Former staff acknowledge that moderate corporal punishment was used in St Joseph’s for misdemeanours, disobedience, insolence, unruliness, bullying, and deny that it was ever deliberately excessive. The hand, a ruler, stick or cane was used. Normally the Resident Manager administered the punishment, and this was done in her office, or in a room called St Brigid’s parlour. Both of the Resident Managers disapproved of any member of staff using any form of corporal punishment on the children, and clearly made this known, not only in the industrial school but also in the local primary school. Regrettably this was not always adhered to, and one member of staff remembers being reprimanded for slapping a girl who had spat at one of the Sisters. It is also recalled that a member of staff found mistreating a child was not retained in the school. Former residents differ in their memory of the use of corporal punishment during their time in St Joseph’s. Some have painful memories of it and say they experienced it as excessive, others say that it was not. While it is denied that excessive punishment was used in St Joseph’s given the number of years covered by the period under review, together with the number of children in residence, it is unlikely that corporal punishment was not sometimes administered unfairly or harshly.

Sr McQuaid reiterated the point at the Phase I hearing: I suppose knowing human nature and knowing the length of the period of time and the number of children I think it would be unrealistic to say that there weren’t times when a child could have been treated harshly.

In her evidence during Phase III, Sr McQuaid described an instance that occurred in the 1950s, when a member of staff beat the children with a hairbrush. She was reported by one of the senior girls to the Resident Manager who subsequently dismissed her. The evidence of Elaine was that one abusive lay worker who beat the children with a hairbrush remained for the duration of her placement and would not have been due to be retained in any event.

Sr McQuaid apologised to ‘anybody who suffered either because of unmerited or excessive punishment, either from a Sister or from ones that we didn’t even notice’. With hindsight, they said they deeply regretted the use of corporal punishment. They realised that even when it was not excessive, it must have had a greater impact upon a child living in an institution.