Chapter 8 — Cappoquin

Neglect

Six months later, on 29th October 1945, Dr McCabe inspected the School and reported that she was satisfied with the way things were going in the School under the new Resident Manager. The annual inspection reports for the next five years refer to the food and diet as no more than ‘satisfactory’, although the School generally was deemed to have improved all round.

The issue of inadequate diet arose in 1952, when Dr McCabe once again became concerned about the diet of the children. She reported that, although not ill, they were not too robust. There were a lot of children with runny noses, and she felt the diet could be more varied. She noted that the Resident Manager was keen to do her best. On her next visit on 21st October 1953, Dr McCabe noted a very big improvement in the food, clothing and school buildings.

Dr McCabe paid 11 more visits to the School during the tenure of Sr Adriana. The reports were less detailed, and on occasions she reported a number of visits on one report. Overall, she described continued improvements being carried out. She mentioned Sr Adriana in most reports as being an excellent Resident Manager, kind to the boys, if a little old-fashioned. In her opinion, it was a well-run school, with the children well cared for.

One witness, resident in the Institution for four years in the mid-1940s, recalled: ... Hunger, hunger was a big problem ... All the time ... I had a habit anyway and some of the other boys had a habit, if we got a crust for our supper or for our tea, we would divide the crust into small little pieces and keep it in our hand for the intervening period between the next meal and we would eat one of these things every few minutes. It was a small little crust. That’s what kept us going.

The children were severely underfed for a long period in the 1940s and 1950s. On being told by the Medical Inspector that the children were seriously underfed the Superior’s first priority was to defend the inadequate diet. The state of the children was not a concern for her. The Superior was arrogant and dismissive of the Department’s complaints. The Manager was grossly incompetent but the Superior was determined to keep her in place. The Department’s contention that conditions in Cappoquin were mirrored in other industrial schools run by the Congregation was an indictment of the Sisters of Mercy generally in respect of their care of children, and disclosed widespread neglect. The Department’s assessment also represented an extraordinary admission of failure on its part in respect of its oversight of the system.

Although Dr McCabe’s early reports concentrated on dietary issues, she continued to comment on the need for improvement to the accommodation and sanitation facilities and, in particular, the lack of a recreation hall.

In a report of the mid-1940s, she stated: I spoke again with the Manager about a Rec. Hall, – she discussed with me several plans she had for improvement in this school and added if she could receive an extra allowance she would carry these out – but of course without help financially she was powerless to make these desired improvements.

Again, two years later, Dr McCabe’s report states: a plan has been discussed to have a recreation hall built – but so far that is all.

In the late 1940s, the Inspector wrote to the Resident Manager expressing his pleasure with the overall improvement in the children’s health and well being, but noted the serious need for the following to be carried out as soon as possible: improved sanitation facilities; erection of a recreation hall; provision of adequate fire escapes.

On receipt of this letter, the Sisters of Mercy informed the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore that the Department of Education had requested them to provide improvements, and sought his advice as to what they should do. He wrote to the Department and posed the question: Is it likely there will continue in the near future to be a demand for such schools in view of the increasing State grants being made available for widows, orphans, etc.? As the Head of the Diocese, I honestly feel unable to reply to the request of the Cappoquin Convent for advice and I would be grateful to you for a helpful direction in this matter. The numbers in the school may decline and the overhanging debt would remain on the Community which would have, so far as I can see, no means of paying it off.

The Secretary of the Department responded to the Bishop, pointing out that he did not accept that the Sisters of Mercy could not afford to make the necessary improvements, as they had had an increase in capitation grants recently, some of which was given on the basis that works would be done. Some other industrial schools had already made improvements, and some had borrowed to do so. He pointed out that Cappoquin had rarely been anything other than full to capacity, and any improvements would only enhance the value of the building should it be closed and sold off.

The Sisters of Mercy also turned to a local TD, and the Department received a representation on behalf of the nuns, pleading that they needed assistance by way of a grant for the money needed to carry out the improvements. He was informed by the Department that there were no grants available and, when the capitation grants were increased in 1948, it was made clear that schools themselves would be responsible for the supply of equipment and building improvements.

In the early 1950s, the Department granted the appropriate licence to the Superior to authorise the necessary works to be carried out to construct a classroom, toilets and general repairs to the Industrial School in Cappoquin.

The new classrooms were built, and it appears that the works went ahead before the Department had finalised the paperwork necessary when schools were erected with State aid. The Sisters advised the Department that they had had to proceed because of the pressures from the Industrial School Section to provide recreational and sanitary facilities for the children. The old School had been condemned by both the Primary and Chief Industrial School Inspectors for a number of health and safety reasons. The Sisters had gone ahead with the building works and carried out a number of other renovations and extensions (e.g. new sanitary block and fire escape) for which they were not making a claim. They pointed out that the weekly allowance of 24s per head was entirely inadequate to feed, clothe and procure medical attention, as well as clear overhead expenses: wages of staff, matron, sub-matron, seamstress, laundress, nursemaids.

The following year, a report was prepared for the Department containing the background as to how the Sisters came about erecting the new School. It contained debate as to whether the children could have been sent to the convent school in Cappoquin instead. However, the author submitted that this would have caused accommodation and integration problems in the local school, and he recommended that the Sisters should be given the grant.