Chapter 10 — Positive memories and experiences

Post-discharge

In addition to routine assistance received from staff when they were being discharged, seven male and 29 female witnesses reported receiving further assistance from religious and lay staff when they got into personal or employment difficulties after leaving the School. The witnesses emphasised how important this help was to them and remember with gratitude the assistance they received. A number of witnesses reported being rescued from homelessness and were offered temporary accommodation in the School. There were a number of reports of alternative employment being found for witnesses by the staff in such circumstances where their first job was not satisfactory. Following discharge... We had to write back to them, report back to them, and if we were in need of a job we had to report back to them again. We had no other place to turn, the only place we could turn was back there. I finally wrote back to Mother ...X... and told her the situation. “Come back” she said “you could probably do with a couple of days, come back. You can stay here and we’ll have a chat about a job” she said. I gave in my notice and went back, for 6 months I think. They were very nice to me when I got back and she said “what kind of a job would you like?” ... (Placed by religious staff in satisfactory alternative employment) • This man...(named priest)... approached me, he said “have you got a job?”...he said “I run a boys’ hostel”, he took us to the boys’ home and he made a phone call. Then he called us and put us on the bus and the first stop was the General Post Office in London. He took us in to the post office and he had a word with the manager, he... (manager)... called us in one by one and said “you just have been released from the Free State Army... what time would you like to start?” I said “what shifts have you? I’ll take the one at night time. I’ll start tonight. He said “you’re not in the country a day yet”...The priest got all 12 of us jobs...5 bob a week in the hostel, all meals threw in. I stayed 2 and a half years.

Three (3) witnesses who had early unplanned pregnancies reported being given shelter and support by the Schools while their babies were young. One witness reported that, shortly after her discharge, she and her family were given financial assistance to return to Ireland from poor circumstances in the UK. Others reported being assisted to find employment in the local area when they could not settle further away. A small number of female witnesses reported having maintained contact with individual religious Sisters over many years, receiving gifts when they got married and being assisted to finish their education and pursue careers. ‘The staff were kind to me on the whole. They sent me a cheque when I married.’

Care and education provided

A small number of witnesses were appreciative of the staff that cared for them even though they wished to make clear that they also experienced abuse in the Schools. ‘They gave children a great life, they did not mean what they did, no matter how cruel they were, where would I have been without them?’ Some witnesses expressed the view that the religious and lay staff in charge of them probably did the best they could under difficult circumstances and four witnesses said that in retrospect, they appreciated the sense of security provided by being contained in an institutional environment when they were young.

Witnesses discharged since the mid-1970s more frequently commented on having positive experiences during their stay in Schools. Some witnesses reported on general improvements in the standards of care and assistance received from staff. Examples of improvements in the standards of care included the establishment of group homes on the grounds of some Schools and the increased likelihood of siblings being admitted and remaining together. There were nine witness reports of the positive experience of living in a small mixed group in the care of trained lay care staff. Witnesses from some Schools reported other positive changes in the way they were prepared for discharge, including access to ‘pre-leaving’ care groups, which were designed to train residents for independent living, for example learning how to budget, cook or pay bills.

Twenty male (20) and 32 female witnesses commented on the positive value of the education and training they received in the classrooms and trade workshops from lay and religious teachers. In later years there were more frequent reports of support for regular school attendance and further education that was also appreciated. The education was good there, I’ve got to be honest. It depends on how you are yourself. What I mean by education ... you had the opportunities there, you had day school and night school.... You had the carpenters shop there, you had the shoemakers shop there, the garden and the farmers, there was a tailors shop there too.