Chapter 11 — Current circumstances

Occupational status

Many male and female witnesses described the detrimental effects of a poor education on their work lives. Poor literacy, combined with the stigma of having been in a Reformatory or Industrial School, led to many witnesses ‘keeping their heads down’ to avoid criticism or the shame of being ‘found out’ as having been in an institution. They found it difficult to progress beyond unskilled labouring, factory or cleaning work and had poorly provisioned retirements. They described their working lives as a constant struggle to survive without drawing attention to their perceived shortcomings, both educational and social. You were put down a lot, if anyone says “where are you from?” Well you have nowhere, have you? If you say Dublin, then they say “where?” and you just can’t say, it’s that stigma. I thought people would judge me badly. • When I came out ... the lack of education hit me. I was unskilled, I was terrified, I couldn’t put ...(name of School)... on the form. I couldn’t go back into education because, what is education? It is beatings. • I go haywire when anyone gives me an application form to fill out...I haven’t got the confidence, I know what my writing is like, I know what my spelling is like... • I was in ...named company...for 25 years and they said you’ll have to learn it...(computer)...I was terrified I would show myself up. I can’t go over the boss and say “can I have...?”. I can’t go up and approach him. It’s not because of him, it’s because of me...I’m terrified. Then they...(work colleagues)... say to me “you should go for that”, if they only knew the truth, I don’t want anyone to know my background...instead of moving up in work I’ve moved down. I couldn’t say I want more because I’d be afraid.

One witness whose life was, like many others, a catalogue of jobs with varying levels of responsibility, always on the move, afraid of being found out as being from an Industrial School and having no family stated: I had the capacity to find a cosy corner somewhere, settle in and keep to myself and then the day would come when I would feel comfortable and give my opinion about something and they would all wonder where that came from, I’d show myself as someone with a brain. Then I would have to move on again, afraid I’d be discovered ...(to have been in an Industrial School).... • I work nightshift, which suits me grand because they leave me alone, nobody bothers me. I can just get on with my work, they know I’m a good worker. I always keep busy myself, that’s how I cope.

Table 47 below shows the highest education level attended, but not in all instances completed, by both male and female witnesses:

Highest level of education	Males	%	Females	%	Total witnesses	%
Primary	327	79	249	66	576	73
Secondary	52	13	83	22	135	17
Third level	34	8	44	12	78	10
No schooling	0	0	2	1	2	(0)
Total	413	100	378	(100)*	791	100

Two (2) female witnesses reported never having attended any form of classroom education. All other witnesses reported attending class for some period during their childhood, a number of whom reported attending only prior to their admission to the Schools.

With little or no preparation for open employment and life outside the institution the initial experience of being discharged was described by the majority of witnesses as a shock. As noted previously, aftercare provision and follow-up, with the exception of job placement, was reported as minimal or non-existent for the majority of witnesses and those who had spent most of their lives in an institution and had no family contact reported severe difficulties adjusting to society when they were discharged. I found it very difficult moving into a different society, I found it very, very hard. I was very shy, felt everybody was looking at me.... When I was 16 I got a job in a ... shop. I could not get used to farthings and 3-halfpence and things like that. They threw me out. ... I felt all the girls were laughing at me.... I was good for nothing at that stage. • Jobs I found very hard. I worked in Dublin for 3 years, the longest job I had. I had to work to pay my rent, when you’re not living with family...I used to think everybody was looking at me. I used to get red in the face. Getting a job...(in a public service area)...I was looking and learning and listening to how people behaved and copying them. I wasn’t asked questions, I was there on my own...I was in charge...I got confidence.

The pattern of emigration from Ireland to the UK seeking employment was a feature of witnesses’ lives in the period, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. At the time of their hearing, 290 witnesses (37%) were living in the UK. Casual labour, factory and domestic work were commonly reported employment options in the lives of witnesses discharged up to mid-1970s both in Ireland and the UK. The following table shows the occupational status of witnesses on the basis of their main form of employment, as reported at the time of their hearing:

Occupational status	Males	%	Females	%	Total witnesses	%
Semi-skilled or unskilled	298	72	262	69	560	71
Non-manual	29	7	56	15	85	11
Skilled manual	63	15	19	5	82	10
Professional	7	2	22	6	29	4
Managerial/technical	16	4	9	2	25	3
Unavailable	0	0	10	3	10	1
Total	413	100	378	100	791	100

One hundred and seventy (170) of the 791 male and female witnesses (21%) reported being placed directly into live-in jobs, including with farmers, shopkeepers, hotels, hospitals, and members of religious orders, when they were discharged from the School system. Many of those witnesses described being paid a minimal rate, sometimes not regularly or at all and were allowed little more freedom than they had in the School system. The employment placements were generally either in the vicinity of the institution from which they had been discharged or in Dublin. As reported previously, 27 witnesses reported being physically and sexually abused by their employers and by others in the context of their work setting in the years immediately following their discharge. In several instances the abuse was described as continuing over a long period of time. The witnesses routinely reported that they felt powerless to protect themselves and stop the abuse.

Thirty eight (38) male witnesses reported being sent to work for farmers when they were discharged from a School. Thirteen (13) male witnesses reported being treated as family members and although they worked hard were happy to do so in exchange for the kindness they experienced. At the time of the hearings four witnesses were still living, or in regular contact, with the family they had been sent to many years previously. Less positive accounts were also heard of witnesses being ‘treated like slaves’, made to sleep in out-houses, eat meals separately from the employer’s family, sometimes outside the house, and were expected to wash in the yard or out-houses. Witnesses who had spent many years in an institution reported the experience of living and working with a family as alien and that they did not know how to behave or understand what was expected of them. A number reported that they worked hard but did not have an aptitude for farm work; others enjoyed the work to which they had become accustomed while in the Schools.

Twenty nine (29) male witnesses reported being placed by the School in trades; for seven of the witnesses these work placements developed into ongoing careers. The jobs were reported to draw on the trade skills acquired in the Industrial School. Tailoring was the most frequently reported trade, with 15 witness reports of being placed in jobs in the clothing industry. Nine (9) witnesses reported being placed in the shoemaking industry; five others reported being sent to work as bakers and carpenters.

Nine (9) male witnesses reported making careers in the music industry following their experience in the School bands. Some of the witnesses became professional musicians; others were music teachers or involved in related careers. Music was reported to be an important part of the lives of most of those witnesses and an acknowledged positive outcome of their experience in the institution. I done a bit of music and a bit of folk singing in sessions, there was a lot of drink around too, then I done drugs. I overdosed...Then things came right, my head got clear and things came right in the music.

Seventy one (71) male witnesses joined either the Irish Defence Forces or overseas armies at some time during their life. Many witnesses described the Army as providing security, shelter and a structured regime in addition to career opportunities and the possibility of travel. Twenty-two (22) male witnesses had substantial and positive careers in the Army, 10 of whom spent the majority of their working lives there. The Army was another way, a lot of the lads joined the Army. It was the same as...named School...but you got paid for it. You had the rules and regulations, you had punishment but you got paid.

Sixty one (61) male witnesses were unemployed at the time of their hearing, 46 of whom had been unemployed for more than 20 years.

One hundred and three (103) female witnesses (27%) reported being sent to work for families or religious congregations on a live-in basis when they were discharged from the Schools. Forty six (46) of these witnesses reported being placed in these positions without any prior discussion. As with the male witnesses, female witnesses had routinely never met their new ‘employer’ before the day they were collected, sent or brought to their new place of employment. Witnesses who were sent to work for religious congregations became live-in housekeepers or cleaners in hospitals, Schools, boarding schools, presbyteries, nursing homes and laundries. The majority of witnesses reported that these work placements were like an extension of their experience in the Schools, with less abuse. The accounts of such placements were varied. Approximately a third of the witness reports were positive in that the families, nuns and clergy employing them were kind and treated the witnesses well. A number of witnesses reported that their employers encouraged them to socialise and, over time, helped them to pursue further education or training, for example doing commercial courses or nursing training. Fifteen (15) female witnesses reported maintaining contact with these initial employers up to the present day.

Another 163 female witnesses (43%) reported that following their discharge they found themselves jobs in domestic situations for the first couple of years. At least half of the female witnesses who were employed in domestic service in the early years after their discharge remained in similar occupations for the rest of their working lives, either on a live-in basis as priest’s housekeepers, hospital domestics, nannies and housekeepers or as cooks, cleaners, laundry workers, seamstresses and care attendants. Many witnesses stated that they were trained primarily to clean and, as a result, have been much in demand as housekeepers and cleaners.

Female witnesses discharged since the 1970s increasingly reported being placed in clerical and other positions, for which some had received secretarial training in the School. Thirty two (32) female witnesses reported having trained as nurses, mainly in the UK. Those female witnesses who were not initially employed in domestic or clerical occupations reported being occupied in a variety of areas including a number who returned home and assisted their mothers in caring for younger brothers and sisters.