Chapter 17 — Primary and second-level schools

Emotional abuse

Two (2) witnesses described being humiliated by the attentions of a teacher who sexually abused them in public places. Others recounted the humiliation of being beaten on their bare buttocks in front of the other pupils, or being ostracised by being made to kneel or stand while being physically abused in public by their teacher, as one witness explained: He was cruel ... he knew I wasn’t bright and I knew he knew I wasn’t bright so whenever he wanted a victim ... he’d bring you up and slap you across the face in front of everyone.

Nineteen (19) witnesses described an atmosphere of fear in the school that contributed to the overall experience of abuse and made it difficult to learn. A witness who reported being abused in the classroom commented ‘fear was every day, will I be abused today?’

Seven (7) witnesses reported that witnessing the abuse of others was disturbing, and in a small number of schools they described a general atmosphere of intimidation and threat. One witness reported that he was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of moving to a senior class where he could hear the teacher administer severe beatings. Another witness commented on the atmosphere created by a teacher who was verbally and physically abusive: ‘what was particularly traumatic was his shouting all day, which struck terror into the pupils’. A male witness described witnessing a fellow pupil having to be carried home following a ‘severe assault’ by a lay teacher.

Five (5) witnesses described being constantly vigilant in the context of being sexually abused and told that if they did not behave in a particular way and comply with their abusers’ wishes they would be punished, shamed and blamed for participating in the abuse. A male witness stated that over a two-year period he was repeatedly raped and was constantly threatened that he would be sent away. He stated that he was ‘kept in terror by Br ...X...’ in case the secret of his sexual abuse became public.

A number of witnesses who reported being sexually abused also described an accompanying sense of guilt and shame that was reinforced by being told that behaviour of a sexual nature was sinful. One female witness who reported being raped by a visiting priest said ‘he told me I would go to hell, I thought maybe he was right’. A male witness described his distress in this regard: It was the mortal sin of it ...distressed ... you had all this stuff about being prepared to die and dying in your sleep. Even still I don’t go to sleep, would be 2 or 3 in the morning. I think maybe it’s connected in some way in having to go into Mass the next morning and go to Communion, that was an even bigger sin, I already had a sin on my soul, a mortal sin ... distressed ...

Four (4) witnesses described being made a scapegoat by religious staff in boarding schools through being segregated from their peers, constantly verbally abused, deprived of family visits and subjected to various threats. A witness who reported being sent to a boarding school from the Industrial School where he was placed commented: He ... (Fr X)... threatened to send us back to ...named Industrial School.... We were scared, you spent all your life in fear. For us ... (pupils from Industrial School)... I got more of the leather strap, you rarely saw any of the other boys get hit by Mr ...Y... (lay teacher).... Fr ...X... would hit you ... all over, the hands, the legs, the backside, all over the body.... Always up in his room. There was not many days in the 3 years that I wasn’t hit by him. I’d be black and blue all over. I used to be crying with fear.

Knowledge of abuse

Witnesses consistently commented that the public nature of the abuse, in the presence of staff and other pupils, made awareness inevitable. The Committee heard evidence of abuse disclosures to family members, staff and professionals, both within and external to the schools. A small number of witnesses commented that their parents were highly vigilant and protective due to the level of awareness in the local community about certain teaching staff who were abusing pupils. A number of other witnesses who were subject to persistent sexual abuse described being ridiculed, or shunned by other pupils leading them to believe that there was a general level of awareness about the abuse in the school. Witnesses believed there was awareness among school staff due to the inappropriate attention they received publicly from particular male teachers. Sexual abuse was believed to be known to female teachers who in some instances ‘shielded girls’. The other teachers must have known something but they couldn’t say anything, you know how it was then with jobs. But I remember some of them hanging around sometimes and taking you out of his ...(abusive teacher)... way. • The female teachers were lovely but they never took a stand against this, I don’t know if they were able to or not. They would try to protect you, they were grand, they were lovely. When we were away ...(on school related activity)... we were staying in a hotel he came up into the room, you pretended you were asleep. The female teacher was there she stayed with him to make sure, like, that he didn’t do anything to us, they protected us. What he did was take some photographs of girls asleep. He started sex education with us, it was unusual at the time. I remember the female teachers saying “they’re not ready”. They were trying to verbalise their own disapproval.

Witnesses commented that where abuse was perpetrated by more than one abuser or in the presence of a second adult awareness was inevitable. Two (2) witnesses gave accounts of being abused by more than one male religious staff simultaneously. Another witness reported that he was raped by a teacher outside the school in the presence of another religious Brother.

Disclosing abuse and outcome of disclosure

Twenty eight (28) witnesses reported that they disclosed the fact that they were being abused. The majority of witnesses who disclosed abuse were male. The reports related to 22 primary and six second-level schools. Witnesses stated that the response to the disclosure of their abuse ranged between being listened to and protected, to being punished, and in a number of instances the reported abuse was investigated.

Eighteen (18) witnesses stated that they told their parents that they were being abused. In 10 instances witnesses reported that their parents believed them and some stated that physical abuse was seen as part of the culture of the school, where parents accepted physical abuse as routine punishment for misbehaviour: You couldn’t go home and tell your mother, my father was in England. There was no work here at the time ... if I went home and told my mother she’d say “well you must have done something to deserve it”. You wouldn’t be given your sixpence for the cinema. I didn’t say very much. She’d say “were you bold in school today?”

Seven (7) male witnesses reported that their parents confronted the abusers or the school authorities. One of the witnesses reported that his parents were asked by two priests to ‘hush up’ the abuse, another witness reported that his mother was verbally abused by the Principal following her complaint about his abuse. The mother of another witness who attended part of her son’s hearing with the Committee described her encounter with the school authorities: I went to see Fr ... X ... (named priest) ... he was walking up and down in the church grounds. I was walking behind him telling him the story. “All lies, all lies” he says. I says “my children has no need to tell lies, they can come home and talk about it and they’re not beaten”. I said “Am I going to send for the father or are you going to do something?”...the priest said... “Oh, don’t tell...(her husband)...”...So anyhow I left it to him. He...(lay teacher)...was brought up before them, they knew what was going on.

The Committee heard evidence that in some instances while the abuse was initially denied, following the intervention of parents the witnesses were protected from further abuse. In five primary schools witnesses reported that abusers were removed. Other reported responses by parents to disclosures of abuse included a parent threatening to make a report to the Gardaí and two witnesses being moved from the school by their parents and sent to another school.

Nine (9) other witnesses reported disclosing their experiences of abuse to adults in positions of authority including, school Principals, religious staff, Gardaí and staff in a Children’s Home. Five (5) of these witnesses reported being punished or further abused following their disclosure. One witness reported that when he disclosed abuse in Confession, he was assaulted and raped by the confessor. The other four witnesses commented that their reports of abuse were investigated and that they were protected either immediately or at a later time.

Six (6) witnesses who disclosed abuse in second-level schools reported that no protective action was taken and the abuse continued. Five (5) of the reported disclosures were to persons in authority. One witness stated that he told another pupil of his experiences of abuse. Two (2) witnesses reported being punished for what were regarded as false allegations. A female witness commented that she was ‘really, really annoyed that other teachers never said anything’.

One male witness reported that following ongoing sexual abuse over two years he refused to continue attending school. The witness stated that investigation by the school attendance officer led to him being threatened with being sent to an Industrial School. On returning to school his abuser kept him in the classroom during break time and continued to abuse him on a more frequent basis. Another male witness reported that when he attended hospital for treatment following both sexual and physical assault no enquiries were made regarding how he had sustained his injury. The witness reported that the school Principal who had sexually abused him had ‘an air of authority and high standing in the community’ and that, when he was confronted by the witness’s parents, he denied the abuse. A witness who reported abuse in both national and second-level schools stated that as an adolescent he took an overdose in order to avoid persistent abuse and that he tried to tell others but was unable to describe what happened. Another witness commented that he developed skills ‘by crying, mitching, avoiding confrontation and cheating ... to survive the regime of brutality on a daily basis’. He stated that he attended the Committee because he wished to speak about what ‘surpassed even that ... (daily brutality).’