Chapter 7 — Record of abuse (male witnesses)

Physical abuse

Witnesses described other leather straps of varying dimensions: some were described as leather belts, others as longer, thinner straps referred to as whips. Two (2) witnesses from two different Schools described being beaten with leather straps with leather thongs attached to the ends, one witness discharged in 1950 referred to the strap as a cat-o’-nine-tails. I’ll never forget the cat-o’-nine-tails, 10 tongs ...(thongs)... it used to have knots across the bottom. Observing other boys stripped and the blood running down as they were being flogged across the body, it was terrible. There must have been a new rule by the Government at some stage because it happened no more.

There were 232 accounts of being hit or beaten with a variety of sticks, including canes, ash plants, blackthorn sticks, hurleys, broom handles, hand brushes, wooden spoons, pointers, batons, chair rungs, yard brushes, hoes, hay forks, pikes and pieces of wood with leather thongs attached. One hundred and eighteen (118) witnesses reported being beaten with canes and 37 with hurleys. Other implements described included bunches of keys, belt buckles, drain rods, rubber pram tyres, golf clubs, tyre rims, electric flexes, fan belts, horse tackle, hammers, metal rulers, butts of rifles, t-squares, gun pellets and hay ropes. Witnesses also reported having objects thrown at them, such as blocks of wood or sliotars. I was crying, I wouldn’t stop crying. He ...(Br X)... caught me by the hair. I was down in the ground and the first thing he could lay his hand on was a hammer and he hit me and damaged me ... (described and displayed mark to hand)... if you moved out of turn or something you got hit. • Br ...X... flogged me on the bog. We, another fella, were messing laughing and grinning. He ...(Br X)... hadn’t got his leather and he walked over to a tree and got a branch and he peeled it and said “take off your trousers”. I thought he was only joking, he got ...named co-resident... to hold me and he ...(Br X)... lashed me. He should be in hell now, he lashed me. I was bleeding, I was sent to the nurse.

Thirty four (34) witnesses described being forced into scalding or freezing showers or baths as deliberate punishments, including a number who reported being hosed with cold water before or after a severe beating. One witness reported that his head was held under water in a sink while working in the kitchen, another reported having his head held under water while bathing.

Twenty two (22) witnesses described various means by which they were physically abused by burning and scalding; all the incidents reported were isolated and included being burned with matches and cigarettes, having fingers put into electric sockets and having scalding water thrown at them while working in the kitchen. One witness who reported being scalded was so badly burned that he was hidden from sight during a subsequent inspector’s visit.

There were reports from three Schools of dogs being used by staff members to assault and frighten residents, the dogs were described in some instances as pets. In other instances witnesses reported staff ‘patrolling’ with large dogs including Alsatians that were believed to be used as a threat against misbehaviour. There was this man there he had ... 3 dogs, he was an outsider ...(lay ancillary worker)... I was sent over to the hay barn to stack hay as punishment, the 3 dogs were set on me and the scar is there now where they bit me, you can see the mark on that finger ...(displayed scar to Commissioners)... I asked to go down to the nurse and he said “no”. Anyway, the next morning it was gone all septic and I had to go down to ...named hospital... where they put all stitches in it. There were also four references by witnesses of being threatened and intimidated by Brothers who had dogs and carried guns for hunting.

Witnesses described various styles of physical punishments that were perpetrated by priests, Brothers and lay staff in different Schools over the decades. ‘You got to know every Brother’s punishment, they all had their different style of hitting.’ Witnesses from two Schools reported that particular Brothers put their leather straps into the fridge or outside overnight to freeze them. ‘They’d leave the leathers out on the window sill for the night, you know in the frost, to get it hard.’ Witnesses also reported a Brother’s practice of rubbing salt on the leather strap that he used. Methods of physical punishment were also reported to vary both between staff and Schools. For example, witnesses discharged from three Schools in the 1970s and 1980s described being locked out overnight as a punishment, referred to as ‘freezing time’. Being locked out in cold weather and left to sleep outside were reported as alternative punishments to being beaten. Another witness described the following: One new lad came and he was covering himself getting dressed. This Brother decided he was going to make a man out of him, so he pulled off his clothes. The young fella started crying and Br ...X... hung him out the window ...(from a height)... by the 2 legs, we all saw it. You were always in fear of that sort of thing. Different Brothers did different things.

In addition to reports of what appeared to be indiscriminate violence, witnesses reported being beaten for other reasons, including: bed-wetting and soiling, inattention in the classroom, left-handedness, stammering, not knowing lessons, disclosing physical and/or sexual abuse, absconding, ‘stealing’ food, talking in line, delay in obeying an instruction, ‘looking the wrong way’ at a staff member, attending the infirmary, complaining of feeling unwell, general wear and tear on clothing and footwear, talking at meals or in bed, talking to girls, playing soccer, losing a game against an outside team, perceived sexual thoughts or actions and not being able to carry out work tasks quickly and properly. If you turned up late ... he ...(Br X)... used to do an inspection, if there was a speck of dirt, that would trigger it off. He used a leather, hand, cane on the legs, hand, arse or wherever ...(he)... had a temper, you would be black and blue, you would be on the floor. He used to make you take your trousers down and he would give it to you on the behind or wherever, he did it to me a few times. You wouldn’t do anything because he had a whistle and he would call other Brothers and they would weigh in, when these guys got going you would do nothing, if they couldn’t get you one way they would get you the other, kick, hit, you were knackered. • He ...(Br X)... flogged me one time, I was working in the piggery. I used to be starving, the pigs used to get the Brothers’ leftovers and one day there was lovely potatoes and I took some and I took a turnip. Br ...X... caught me and he brought me up to the dormitory, he let down my trousers and he lashed me. He always wore a leather, around 18 inches ...(long)... and it was all stitched with wax, his leather was very thin. It was about an inch and a half, others had leathers about 2 inches. He lashed me, he flogged me.

The Committee heard repeated reports from the 403 witnesses of specific forms of physical punishment, which were described as routinely meted out for particular behaviours. The most commonly reported of these targeted behaviours were bed-wetting, soiling, absconding and schoolwork. Bed-wetting and soiling

Bed-wetting was reported to have been targeted for punishment in all 26 Schools. One hundred and twenty four (124) witnesses reported that they were harshly punished for bed-wetting, 99 of those accounts related to witnesses discharged before 1970. The punishments described ranged from being hit on the hands to being flogged naked in front of others. The persistance of bed-wetting led to physical punishment becoming a daily ritual for many witnesses. With few exceptions, the arrangements for handling bed-wetting were described as inducing fear and terror on a constant basis and, with some variations, followed a similar pattern up to the 1970s.

It was frequently reported that residents who wet their bed were made to sleep in either a separate dormitory or in a separate section of the main dormitory. It was also reported that nine of the 26 Schools for boys employed a night watchman who woke habitual bed-wetters during the night to use the toilet. The Committee heard consistent reports of particular practices in relation to the management of bed-wetting, including all bed-wetters being woken, being checked for wet beds, being beaten with a stick while in bed and being forced to wait for lengthy periods in cold bathrooms to use the toilet. Witnesses also reported being hit as they stood waiting; others reported that beds were inspected each morning, followed in some Schools by an immediate beating if the bed was wet. I was beaten stark naked for wetting the bed, 2 or 3 different people would beat me. You would be called up after breakfast by Br ...X.... He was evil. He liked beating kids naked, he would put your head between his legs ...(while he beat you)... for wetting the bed, and more bed-wetting boys would be there as well ...(watching)... The night watchman would get you up at night with a stick, every night. He would beat you out of the bed. You’d have to bring the sheets up to be washed to the laundry and a bigger boy would beat you with a stick there, he was the senior in the laundry.

One witness who was transferred from a junior to a senior School when he was eight years old described how he had wet his bed for a long time and was used to it being managed fairly sympathetically. On the first and subsequent morning’s inspection in the senior School when his bed was found to be wet, the person in charge recorded his number. He was told to bring his wet sheet to the drying room for use the following night. After breakfast he was sent to join a line of boys outside the office and when his number was called he was sent into the office and given ‘6 or 12 slaps with the leather on the hands, wrist or backside’. He reported that he did not know why he was being beaten, he had never been punished for bed-wetting before and could not understand what he had done wrong. Nobody explained anything to him. Another witness explained his experience: Every night I was beaten for wetting the bed, the first night I said “the nuns didn’t beat me for bed-wetting”, he ...(Br X)... said “you’re here now”. Br ...X... would make you kneel down at the bed to pray, he would call out the boys every night ...(who had wet their bed)... he would beat you with the leather, if you pulled away he would get hold of you and hit harder, if you fell to the floor he would pull you up by the chin, twist your ear, pull you by the hair. After the beatings he would play the guitar and sing ...(popular)... songs.

In other Schools the punishment for bed-wetting was reported to have been reserved for bedtime when those who had wet their beds the previous night were lined up to await a beating either on their hands or bare buttocks. Many of the 124 witness reported that they were beaten in the morning and again at night. Other witnesses reported being sent to ‘the office’ where punishment was meted out, usually in the form of strokes of the leather on the hands or buttocks, described by one witness as follows: You had to fold your bed every morning. Anyone who wet the bed had to stand out. It was the fear. You were told to go to the office. Usually it was after school when they bate ...(beat)... us. They never did it before school ’cos you’d be going to school crying. There’d be 20 or 30 lads all waiting to be beaten, lined up outside the office ... it would only be that size ... (indicated small space)... That’s where we would get our beatings. You were just so scared; you didn’t know who was doing the beatings.... You were better off not looking at the strap, it would frighten you more. It would depend who was on and the form of the Brother how many slaps you’d get. You’d be told to drop your pants and tip your toes. ... The lads, my friends, would try and get me out of bed at night-time to go to the toilet.

Witnesses described trying to stay awake so as not to wet their bed. The rules in some dormitories were said to preclude getting out of bed at night. In other Schools witnesses reported being reluctant to go to the toilet during the night for fear of being followed and abused by the night watchman or older co-residents. There were 43 witness reports of being beaten and sexually abused by night watchmen and older co-residents in this context.

Cold showers and baths were described as a punishment for bed-wetting in the latter decades, with six such witness accounts from three Schools in the 1970s and 1980s.

Witnesses also reported going to considerable lengths to swap or hide their wet sheets, acknowledging that sometimes others were punished as a result. Other residents jeered those who wet their bed and some witnesses spoke with regret about their actions as children in this regard.