428 entries for Allegations

Two members of the Board of Management had a formal meeting with Mr Ashe, at which the Chairman outlined a series of complaints and invited the teacher to respond. The first item was an allegation that he had struck a pupil in the face and made his nose bleed. Mr Ashe denied the allegation, claiming that, while he had snatched a pen from the boy’s mouth, he had not hit him and that the boy’s nose bled for some other reason. He also denied showing disrespect to the Principal, and rejected a charge of setting excessive homework and hitting boys for failure at lessons.

The final allegation put to Mr Ashe at the meeting was that he threatened and tried to intimidate the Principal, Br Ames, by words and gestures. In reply, he described an angry meeting when he accused the Principal of trying to set him up and of being hypocritical. The minutes of the meeting include the following comments that Mr Ashe made to Br Ames: Are you up to your old tricks again or what? You have some neck to try to set anybody up with all the beatings and spankings and all the other stuff you have been up to lately. The Guards never come down to me over hammering. Remember, in case you forget it, that it was to you, yes you, the Guards came, after the daylights being kicked out of a pupil.

The Board’s solicitors advised that Mr Ashe should be dismissed, and approved a proposal to terminate his employment at the end of the school year. The Chairman, Br Noyes, wrote to Mr Ashe, stating that the allegations of physical abuse were ‘well founded’ and therefore justified his dismissal from the School. However, he urged Mr Ashe to take the option of resigning: This should help you in your future career. A reference could be furnished as I am sure you could get on well in another type of school. I just do not think you are suitable to a special school such as St. Joseph’s.

As a result of the Archbishop’s decision, Mr Ashe remained in the School. However, the concerns of the Board of Management were justified, as two further allegations of physical abuse were made against Mr Ashe the following year. A parent wrote to the Chairman of the Board of Management complaining that Mr Ashe had punched his son twice in the stomach. A month later, another teacher witnessed Mr Ashe physically assaulting a boy in a classroom. Both incidents were reported to the Principal, Br Ames, who carried out an investigation by interviewing relevant witnesses. He received no co-operation from Mr Ashe. Following his investigation, Br Ames informed Mr Ashe in a letter that he would be dismissed if he again breached the rules of the Department.

It appears from correspondence in the early 1980s that Br Ames believed he and other school staff were entitled to resort to physical chastisement when occasion required. In the course of a reply to a parent’s letter complaining about physical abuse by another Brother, Br Ames admitted hitting the boy himself for what he thought was good reason: ‘We must look at the case realistically’. He said that the boy was ‘by no means an easy boy to manage’ and at times he ‘found it necessary to give him a good “clip” and I make no apology for this as I have been put to the end of my tether with him’.

In the mid-1990s, a pupil made a number of allegations of physical abuse against his Assistant House Parent, Mr O’Sullivan, who had worked in the School for many years. The allegations, which were made to an Eastern Health Board social worker, were that Mr O’Sullivan hit him with a fish slice, caught him under the chin and attempted to lift him off the ground, had kicked him and twisted his arm. He also alleged that Mr O’Sullivan was rough with the boys, would twist their arms and was cruel to the younger boys and had thrown a cup at a boy. The boy who made the complaints had been resident in the School for a period of three years but, at the time of making the allegations, was a day pupil.

The social worker informed the Director of Residential Care, Mr Gallagher,5 who requested that the allegations be put in writing, which was duly done by letter. The Principal, Br Grissel,6 and Mr Gallagher interviewed the boy who made the allegations and Mr O’Sullivan, who denied the allegations. They decided to suspend Mr O’Sullivan on full pay, pending further investigation and inquiries into the allegations. It was intended that he would be suspended for a period of one week; however, this suspension continued for approximately one month. During the internal investigation, six staff members and 13 boys were interviewed.

Mr O’Sullivan was given two weeks to respond to these findings, and he was informed that a final decision would then be taken. He responded by denying the allegations in a letter, and was informed shortly afterwards that the Management had reached their final decision, which was to transfer him to another residential house at the School. They also decided that he should be psychologically assessed by a doctor from the Granada Institute in order to assess his suitability as an Assistant House Parent. However, he was reinstated, despite the absence of a psychological assessment. Four weeks later, Mr O’Sullivan had still not been psychologically assessed, but arrangements were being put in place for that to be done. It is uncertain whether he was ever psychologically assessed, as no such report was furnished in discovery.

Br Odil,9 who taught in the School during the 1990s, had been the subject of a complaint of ‘excessive punishment’ when he was teaching in another school in Dublin, which he left to attend a course of studies for two years in university. However, no allegations were made against him concerning his time at St Joseph’s.

In the early 1980s the school Principal, Br Noyes, received what he regarded as ‘minor complaints’ from boys that a lay supervisor, Mr Lynch,11 ‘was too harsh, cross and slapped them’ and was very strict. Mr Lynch was the subject of an allegation of sexual abuse, which resulted in his resignation.

A few years later, a parent wrote a letter of complaint to the Principal, Br Ames, alleging that Br Seaton12 had punched his son in the stomach and slapped him around the face when he was wearing his hearing aids. Br Ames wrote a very unsympathetic letter in response, stating that the boy was ‘by no means an easy boy to manage’ and, as stated above, admitted that he had found it necessary to give him a good ‘clip’ and made no apology for it. Br Ames also alleged that the boy had been sedated in his former school, which was the reason he had had no problems there, a fact denied by the boy’s father who had spoken with staff at that school. It would appear that no action was taken against Br Seaton on foot of these allegations.

Br Seymour,13 who taught in the School from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, was the subject of an allegation of physical abuse when he was teaching in another school in the late 1980s. A pupil there alleged that Br Seymour had hit him on the back of the head, which caused his head to shoot forward and his mouth to hit the desk, thus damaging his teeth. Legal proceedings were instituted and the matter was settled without admission of liability. Br Seymour was transferred to a school in Galway following this allegation.

In the mid-1990s, a number of the boys stated that their House Parent, Mr Moore14 was rough and cruel and slapped them. These allegations were made in the course of an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against Mr Moore.

They admitted that their approach to allegations of sexual abuse at the time was ‘seriously inadequate’, but added that this arose ‘through lack of awareness or knowledge rather than through neglect’. They cited the lack of clinical research into child abuse and the recidivist nature of such abuse in support of their approach. They submitted that there was little or no understanding or regard given to the effect of such abuse on the child concerned. Sexual abuse, they argued, was seen as a moral failing on the part of the Brother in question, and this and ‘the danger of scandal arising out of that moral failure were seen as the primary matters to be addressed when a case of child sexual abuse presented itself’.

The Christian Brothers referred in detail to the documented complaints of sexual abuse against various Brothers. Based on these cases, they asserted that the Congregation of Christian Brothers ‘sought to protect children who were under their care. As soon as an allegation or incident of abuse came to their notice, the authorities took action’. Documented cases of sexual abuse by staff Allegations against a care worker, Mr Moore