Chapter 8 — Cappoquin

Neglect

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.

This was followed up by a further report that same year, in which the case was considered and a recommendation was made to pay the grant.

Despite the recommendation to pay the grant, the Department was reluctant to apply to the Department of Finance for the funds, and had another inspection carried out by the Schools Inspector one year later. He also recommended that the grant be paid. He recognised that the parents in the local schools would not accept the industrial school children, and that there was no alternative but to educate them within the Industrial School. However, it was deemed inappropriate to remove the boys under six years of age from the external National School, because of the financial consequences for that school, and therefore, the Industrial School was only given two-thirds of the cost of the building, as that represented the actual needs of the School.

The Sisters had built a school large enough to accommodate 64 children, but the Department suggested that, as the proper size of the School would have been one to accommodate 48, the Department of Finance could base the grant on a pro-rata basis. In the early 1950s, the Department of Finance finally sanctioned a grant, which was two-thirds of the estimated cost of building the School for 48 pupils.

Although the Sisters had erected a school big enough to accommodate 64 pupils, a report by an Organising Inspector to the Department of Education 10 years later found, that despite there being just 37 children and well equipped classrooms, the School was not sufficiently used.

In the late 1960s, the Industrial Schools Branch of the Department of Education informed the Primary Branch that, in furtherance of the policy pursued for some years back of sending industrial school children to schools which cater for the local children, they proposed to amalgamate Cappoquin Industrial National School with the convent national school, and sought the views of the Primary Branch on the matter, asking them to state whether there would be any loss of income to the Industrial School as a result.

Old unsuitable classrooms, poor sanitation and inadequate fire escapes were problems not addressed until the early 1950s. The children were all under 10 years of age and needed facilities for play.

Cappoquin, with an accommodation limit of 75, had never been a big industrial school and, because of the ages of the children, few of them were available to work on the farm or in trades that would have served the needs of the School. The School could not have been financially viable when numbers began to fall in the mid-1960s.

In the mid-1960s, the Resident Manager wrote to the Chief Inspector of Industrial Schools advising him that numbers were declining in the School and expressing her disappointment that he had not managed to visit the School despite his recent journeys south. She advised him that the Congregation did not feel inclined to expend money on the premises of the School if it was doomed to closure. She requested that the Department should allow Cappoquin to keep boys up to the age of 16 years, as had recently been agreed for Mount St Joseph’s Industrial School, Passage West.

Three months later, the Department received a further letter from the Resident Manager in which she advised the Chief Inspector that the numbers had fallen to 46 boys, and that the declining numbers were a source of anxiety to the Congregation who had put a lot of money into improvements over the years. She repeated her request to retain boys until they were 16, and emphasised the suitability of the local secondary school in the area where the boys could get a secondary education.

Clearly frustrated by the lack of a visit from the Department, the Superior of the convent wrote to him again two weeks later, and impressed on him the urgency of the situation. She suggested that, if he could not come to them, they would come and meet him. Two months had passed since their request to hold on to boys until 16, and he had promised to visit within the week.