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Chapter 1 — Introduction

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Evidence

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The Committee was required to hear witness accounts of abuse that occurred in the past during a ‘relevant period’ as defined by the Acts.13 The Committee determined the relevant period as between 1914 and 2000, being the earliest date of admission to out-of-home care and the latest date of discharge of those applicants who sought to give evidence to the Committee14.

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Witness evidence included reports of both single incidents and multiple episodes of abuse over a length of time in institutional care for each individual. This Report is a comprehensive account of the information provided by witnesses about incidents and details of abuse they were able to recall and wished to report to the Committee.

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The Report is structured as follows: Part 1 Chapters 1–5: Introduction, methodology and overview Chapters 6-9: Record of abuse and experiences in Industrial and Reformatory Schools Chapter 10: Positive memories Chapter 11: Current circumstances Part 2 Chapter 12: Introduction to Part 2 Chapters 13–18: Record of abuse and experiences in ‘Other Institutions’ Chapter 19: Concluding comments


Footnotes
  1. See Appendix 1 and 1A for copies of these Acts. All further references in the Confidential Committee’s Report to sections of the 2000 Act shall refer solely to the section and not name the Act, e.g. section 1 of the ‘2000 Act’ shall be referred to as ‘section 1’. All references to sections in other Acts shall contain details of the section and the Act. The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Amendment) Act, 2005 shall be referred to as the ‘2005 Act’.
  2. For the Confidential Committee this ‘relevant period’ was from 1914-2000.
  3. Sections 4 and 5 as amended by sections 4 and 5 of the 2005 Act.
  4. Section 3(3).
  5. Section 11 of the 2005 Act.
  6. Section 15(1) as amended by section 10 of the 2005 Act.
  7. Section 16 as amended by section 11 of the 2005 Act.
  8. Section 4(6) as substituted by section 4 of the 2005 Act.
  9. In the Confidential Committee Report the evidence of witnesses is generally referred to as ‘reports’.
  10. Section 1(1) as amended by section 3 of the 2005 Act.
  11. Section 1(1) as amended by section 3 of the 2005 Act.
  12. Section 1(1) as amended by section 3 of the 2005 Act.
  13. Section 1(1).
  14. This includes both Industrial and Reformatory Schools and ‘Other Institutions’.