Chapter 9 — Record of abuse (female witnesses)

Neglect

Most Schools employed some lay staff who were generally believed to be untrained for the task of providing care for children. Witnesses reported that there were some residents retained when they were 16 years old by the nuns to work as lay staff, many of whom were believed to have been in the Schools all their lives. Witnesses expressed some understanding for the frequently harsh behaviour of these staff: ‘They treated others as they were treated themselves’. Witnesses said that lay staff including the former residents received no specific training for their work with children until the 1970s and 1980s when it was reported that staff from certain Schools were trained as childcare workers: The workers were the same age as ourselves like, if we were 15 they were 18.... They started training when I was there; they used to tell us one day a week that they were going for training.

Witnesses also reported that tradesmen, gardeners and farm workers were employed in most Schools and there were isolated reports of these male ancillary staff being inappropriately involved in the care and management of residents.

A further area of neglect identified by witnesses in the context of poor supervision related to external placements. Witnesses reported being sent to families they had not previously met and were not visited by any staff from the Schools while they were there. In addition to those sent to families for weekends and holidays others reported being placed alone in work settings at an inappropriate age. For example, girls ranging in age from 10-13 years were sent to housekeep for local families, shopkeepers or clergy. Twenty nine (29) witnesses placed with families for holidays or to work reported being sexually and physically abused in such situations where they were vulnerable and unsupervised.

Educational neglect was described by many witnesses both in terms of the standard of education provided and, for some, receiving no education at all. One hundred and eighty seven (187) witnesses reported leaving school with poor literacy skills and no qualifications. Sixty three (63) witnesses reported long-term literacy problems. Witnesses reported that their education was neglected through the competing demands of domestic work, excessive emphasis on religious instruction, fear of punishment in the classroom and being discriminated against as children from an Industrial School. Other witnesses reported that they received no assistance for their learning difficulties and were significantly disadvantaged in later life as a result. If you weren’t bright they didn’t help you and anyway you couldn’t learn with the beatings. I only learned how to clean and cook. Mth ...X... used to say to me “you think you will be a star but you won’t be, the way your mother turned out”. .... When I was leaving Sr ...Y... said “don’t turn out like your mother” ...(mother had been in laundry).... I did not know what she meant.... • My days were reduced to the laundry and cleaning and scrubbing. You would be getting younger children up and cleaning them and potties ...(chamber pots)... etcetera. Then it was cleaning, polishing and scrubbing, cleaning corridors, folding clothes and the laundry.... I left not able to read and I was always embarrassed of my writing, it’s very childlike. Even taking down a message in my job I practice it a hundred times. There was an awful lot of work and no education which is something I always regret. Only a very selective few were sent out to school. • You were constantly told you were a misfit, I had a problem no one could understand, I couldn’t write. There were pets, they got special help with their classes, good looking, sweet little angelic looking girls, they were the pets. I got no help, I asked for it but I wasn’t a pet.

One hundred and seventy eight (178) witnesses (58%) reported that they completed their classroom education by the age of 14 years, of whom 34 reported that they did not attend class after 12 years of age. Eight (8) witnesses stated that they were taken out of class to work full-time before the age of 10 years, including two who reported no memory of ever attending school. We had some sort of education up until about 7 ...(years old)... after that I had no education. After that it was decided who would go to school, outside school ...(local primary school).... I put up my hand, Sr ...X... said “you aren’t going anywhere”.

In a number of Schools the strenuous nature of the work, rising early for kitchen or laundry duties, and caring for younger co-residents at night left witnesses tired and unable to benefit from education. Ninety eight (98) witnesses reported being kept from attending class to work in and for the institution when their stated wish was to continue their education. Forty five (45) witnesses reported that they were at times called away from the classroom or came late to class because of chores they had to do beforehand. Others reported being routinely kept out of class on a rotating basis to work in the kitchens and other parts of the institution. Six (6) witnesses reported that they attended class only for the day of the inspector’s visit and that they were otherwise occupied with domestic chores. In the main these reports related to witnesses discharged before the 1970s: I was a very intelligent child. I would soak up knowledge and really resent not having had the chance to have a really good education. ... (I was)... pulled out at 11 and a half or 12 and worked in the orphanage. ... Work in the orphanage prevented me studying. I got highest marks in Primary Certificate in the whole school ...(local primary school)...(and was)... sent around to the whole school with the certificate. • I was in the secondary school one day, I was there for 6 months, she ...(Sr X)... came in and called me out and she said ...“Y...(named co-resident)... is going today, she is 16 and you are now taking her place”. I was going to work in the kitchen. I was so shocked, I really wanted to stay in school. ... I had to go to the kitchen and then I was moved to the farm.

There were reports heard of 17 Schools where residents and local children shared the same classrooms either within the Industrial School or in the local community. In 13 Schools residents were reported to attend class in the local primary, secondary or technical schools and in four other Schools the classes were attended by both School residents and local children. Twenty five (25) witnesses reported educational discrimination and neglect in these circumstances either in the classrooms attached to the Schools or in the local schools. They reported being discriminated against in different ways, for example reporting that they were not allowed to play with or speak to children from the town and often had to sit together at the back of the class. Witnesses also reported that they were referred to collectively by teachers as ‘the industrials’, ‘the orphans’, ‘the house children’ or similar terms. They reported having to wear clothes that distinguished them from the other pupils and being treated as part of a separate group. Witnesses from three Schools reported that as residents of the Industrial School it was their task to clean the local schools’ classrooms and in another School to clean and work in the secondary school’s boarding house.

Many reports were heard of co-residents being given preferential treatment in relation to school attendance, particularly from Schools where residents attended external primary, technical and secondary schools. Witnesses frequently remarked that they were not allowed to go out to school because they were not favoured as ‘pets’ of the religious staff. Forty two (42) of the 83 witnesses who reported attending second level education did so in the period before free secondary education was introduced. They used to say to us, “3 children would be picked” to go for education. I was bright I wanted to get ahead, I wanted to go to secondary school. I didn’t get the opportunity. Three girls were picked, they were ... (pets) ..... I think it was a bit of class distinction, if they came from a better background, or if their aunt was a nun they would be picked.

Witnesses reported that at times their educational opportunities were denied by not having their own school books or the facilities or encouragement to do homework in the evenings. Many reported being denied the opportunity to participate in extra curricular activities and that, having been reared and educated in an institutional setting, the adjustment to attending second level schooling in the local area was a considerable challenge. As a witness said: ‘I didn’t know how to act with people outside the School when I went to the tech ...(technical school)...’.

The quality of bedding provision was reported as poor by 185 witnesses, the majority of whom emphasised being cold in bed. These reports were in relation to 31 Schools across the decades. Poor bedding also referred to lumpy mattresses, insufficient blankets, sheets changed infrequently, mattresses and bedding smelling of urine and no provision made for seasonal variations in temperature. Rubber sheets were reported to be used in place of a cotton sheet in some Schools for residents who wet their beds and were described as being cold and uncomfortable to sleep on. There were reports from three Schools of all residents having to sleep on rubber sheets. Others had to carry their wet cotton sheets all day and sleep on them that night.

Witnesses from a small number of Schools reported having to share their bed with either a sibling or a younger co-resident. For some witnesses there was a comfort in this arrangement; for others it was regarded as unpleasant especially in the context of bed-wetting. We slept 2 to a bed. I would be up all night clapping the sheet, trying to dry the sheet to avoid a beating for my sister and blowing on it. I never had my own bed. Later I shared a bed with another girl.

One hundred and thirty eight (138) witnesses reported that when they were ill or injured their healthcare was neglected and necessary treatment was not provided. Forty nine (49) witnesses reported being punished, not believed or ignored when ill. Witnesses stated: ‘I got better by myself’ and ‘The nuns always thought we were pretending or were looking for notice, it was a crime to be sick’.

A large number of witnesses reported that ‘no heed was taken unless you were very ill’ and gave accounts of being hospitalised with infections, appendicitis, ulcers secondary to chilblains, rickets, anaemia, and failure to thrive. Ten (10) witnesses reported suffering with severe headaches and episodes of fainting that were ignored by staff. Sixteen (16) others reported having recurrent earaches that were untreated, resulting in infections and perforated eardrums. Six (6) witnesses reported they suffered permanent hearing loss.

A further area of healthcare neglect reported to the Committee by witnesses in the period prior to the 1980s was the lack of investigation by medical and nursing staff who observed or were involved in treating non-accidental injuries in the School, local clinics or hospital settings. Eighteen (18) witnesses reported being attended by a doctor in the School for treatment of an injury, including suturing following assaults, and they were neither questioned about how the injury occurred nor was any intervention made to protect them from further abuse.

A small number of witnesses reported that medical advice was not acted upon and that prescribed medical treatment was discontinued in the School. One witness stated that she was hospitalised with tuberculosis while resident in a School. At her hearing, she provided copies of her medical discharge reports containing specific recommendations to the Resident Manager. The medical report advised that she should be moved to a more protective environment and receive better nourishment; she said that neither recommendation was followed.