Chapter 7 — Record of abuse (male witnesses)

Physical abuse

Forty two (42) of the lay staff who were reported as physically abusive were ancillary staff employed as night watchmen, drill masters, farm workers, maintenance and trade workers. Witnesses reported that contact with lay ancillary staff was mainly in the dormitories, showers or in the context of work activity on the farm, in the kitchens or in trade shops where they were in constant contact with the staff who abused them. They had a large shower area. We had one shower per week. The showers were back to back. The person in charge of the baths, he was a lay person, if he wasn’t happy he used to examine boys. To his reckoning if the boys weren’t clean enough, he’d examine you, he would poke and hit you with a stick. I was walloped ... quite a few times, you’d cower in the shower, he would wallop you, in the genital area and on the posterior.

Three (3) particular lay staff were identified by name in the evidence of 35 witnesses and a further 13 lay staff were identified by name by between five and nine witnesses who gave evidence to the Committee. He was cruel ...named lay ancillary worker.... He was an animal, he was a giant of a man. We were only kids. If you done something out of line you would get a toe in the arse, or a whack of a stick, whatever he had in his hand. You’d be out in the field, you would think you would be running around playing, no such thing, you were there to work.

Twelve (12) watchmen were identified by 30 witnesses as physically abusive. The night watchmen were employed to supervise the dormitories during the night and were reported to attend to residents who wet their bed. The main reports of physical abuse by night watchmen occurred in that context. This man had the job of walking up and down the dormitory all night. One night I woke up and this torch was shining in my face. ... He told me to get up and he took the walking stick and he gave me 10 whacks on one hand and then he gave me 10 more. He left me standing there while he did his rounds and then he came back and he gave me 10 more, I was shaking. I wet myself ...distressed.... He went around again and he came back again, at this time I don’t know what to do, I am shaking. I wet the floor, he gave me 10 more on each hand. I got 60 whacks of a cane, a little boy for waking up when a torch was shone on his face. Then he said “go back to bed”. I didn’t know what to do, I cried, totally bemused at this savagery. That was the start of 4 years, night after night after night he would walk around, I would pray “don’t stop, O God please don’t stop. If I’m seen to be awake what will I get?” I saw him hit many boys. One time when he was walking around the dormitory, I could hear him and I ...(soiled)... myself, now how frightened can you get?

Twenty seven (27) male lay staff reported as physically abusive were classroom and other teachers employed in the Schools. They were generally described as harsh disciplinarians who dispensed punishments for schoolwork and perceived misbehaviour. The PE teacher beat us with his fists and boots for coming last in the race, for smiling at the wrong time. • There were lay teachers, I don’t know about qualification or anything like that. One of them was alright, he tried to help us. Mr ...X... was sadistic, he took his belt off to me once and took my trousers down, oh it makes my heart run faster when I talk about him. It was terrible, terrible ...distressed.... He was the one who would use whatever he got hold of and he used put you over a chair and he also would cane the soles of your feet. • One of the school masters ...(lay teacher)... during the first year I was there, the first year, was a very sick man. ... One winter’s morning we were all lined up and told “say the Our Father”, not in English but in Irish. We started off and said ... we just knew the opening and the first 2 words. We couldn’t get any farther, how could we? We were not taught it and because we could not get any farther we got ...demonstrated being hit... on our hands with a strap. A strap with rivets in it because it was held together with little nails.

The 20 female lay staff who were reported as abusers included teachers, care and ancillary workers. Five (5) infirmary nurses were among the female lay staff reported by witnesses as abusive. Witness reported being abused by beatings and by the harsh treatments they applied. Named lay ancillary worker... she was a lay care worker, when she was away on holidays I never wet the bed, but when she was there I got hammered for wetting the bed. If she spotted you ... taking bit of bread from another lad ... she would tell you you were going to get hammered the following morning. You didn’t get it there and then, you would be worried about it and you would get it the next morning. ... But she ...named lay ancillary worker... was unreal.... You got up at half 6 or 7 o’clock and you would have to hold on to the iron bed with one hand and holding up the nightshirt with the other, and she would get one of the prefects to hold you ... she would hit you with a hurley or whatever she could lay her hands on, a broom handle, it could be 10 to 20 strikes. You would be polishing floors after that on your knees and you could get it again, you would not be able to sit down. • Nurse ...X... enjoyed hurting kids, she had no sympathy. You would rather put up with pain than go to her. All the boys were afraid of her; she was very brutal.

Eleven (11) male lay staff who were reported as physical abusers were also the subject of sexual abuse reports.

Thirty eight (38) witnesses reported that pervasive bullying was associated with physical abuse by older co-residents in the Schools. There were 16 reports of co-residents identified by name as physically abusing witnesses and 22 other accounts that referred to groups of unnamed older residents as physically abusive. Witnesses reported that in some Schools older residents were appointed by religious staff as monitors and it was said that they used the opportunity to exert their authority in various ways, including beating younger co-residents. I will never forget the brutality that went on in that place. ... I have got to tell someone before I depart this earth. We were constantly beaten with ash wood sticks by the senior boys left in charge of the playground. This amounted to extreme cruelty as little boys, only 6 or 7 years old.... They were allowed to carry sticks and they could do what they liked. ... In the yard they would be in charge, no one ever supervised that and they could do what they liked. I could never understand that. They were in charge of the dormitories, and the way they got you up with the stick, like, it was unbelievable.

Evidence was also heard of residents being directed by religious staff to attack, kick and beat their co-residents. Witnesses reported it was their belief that certain older residents were known to be favoured by those in charge and therefore had the freedom to behave as they wished without fear of reproach. I answered back in a sort of a cheeky way, and he ...(Br X)... said “wait a few minutes” and went out. I didn’t know what he had in mind, he came back with a couple of older boys and he said something like “teach him a lesson”. You see you have to remember in ...named School... at the time each of the Brothers had their own little flock, he had his own little pets. In later time I learned these boys used to work on the farm. Anyway Br ...X... he urged these lads on, they started punching and kicking me, I was in ... a corner trying to hide my face from the kicks. Well I was left with blood coming from my eye, from my lip and from my eyebrow.

Physical assaults by older residents were sometimes reported to have occurred in the context of sexual abuse and witnesses reported being physically intimidated by older boys in this way as a warning against reporting sexual abuse.

Witnesses reported being physically abused by named individuals who were neither staff nor residents in the School. Three (3) witnesses reported being physically abused when they were in external placements for work or holidays that had been arranged by the School. Two (2) other witnesses reported being physically abused by male lay members of the public and an additional two witnesses reported being abused by ex-residents who they remarked had the freedom to return to the School and associate with residents unsupervised.

Sexual abuse

This section summarises the evidence provided by witnesses of sexual abuse ranging from contact sexual abuse including rape and associated physical violence to non-contact abuse such as enforced nakedness and voyeurism. Witnesses were generally distressed when describing their experiences of sexual abuse. They spoke in as much or as little detail as they wished. Some witnesses provided detailed and disturbing accounts of sexual abuse, other accounts were sufficient to clarify the acute or chronic nature of both contact and non-contact sexual abuse. A priest sexually abused me. ... It’s not very easy to talk about it.... There is things there but I don’t know how to get them out. I’d love to be able to come out with them, but I just can’t.... There’s no easy way of saying things like that.

Two hundred and forty two (242) male witnesses (59%) made 253 reports of sexual abuse in relation to 20 Schools.9 Eleven (11) witnesses reported sexual abuse in relation to two separate Schools. Witnesses described their experience of sexual abuse as either acute incidents or multiple episodes that, for some, occurred throughout their entire admission in the School. Witnesses reported being sexually abused by religious and lay staff in addition to other adults, most of whom had some association with the Schools. Witnesses also reported being sexually abused by co-residents.

The frequency of sexual abuse reports varied widely between Schools: Four (4) Schools were collectively the subject 156 reports.10 Five (5) Schools were the subject 10-17 reports, totalling 67 reports. Eleven (11) Schools were the subject of 1-6, totalling 30 reports.

One School was the subject of 29% of all sexual abuse reports heard by the Committee.

Sexual abuse was reported to occur in combination with other types of abuse as shown in the following table:

Abuse types	Number of reports	%
Sexual, emotional, neglect and physical	166	66
Sexual, neglect and physical	49	19
Sexual, emotional and physical	20	8
Sexual and physical	14	6
Sexual, emotional and neglect	2	1
Sexual and neglect	1	(0)
Sexual	1	(0)
Total reports	253	100