375 entries for Historical Context

Moreover, the Department of Education’s architect, on an inspection of the School in 1976, stated unequivocally that ‘This building is a death trap’. He also stated that, ‘There is only one Architectural solution to this case and that is vacate the present buildings’. He was also strongly of the view that under no circumstances should State monies be spent on the building except for first aid repairs.

The second reason for the closure of the School was that Health Boards in the 1970s were focusing more on fostering as a means of caring for children rather than residential care in institutions.

The third factor that contributed to the closure of the School was staffing: the Resident Manager was elderly and in poor health in the 1970s; and it was difficult to recruit staff.

All these difficulties led the Sisters of Mercy to enter into discussions with the Department of Education in 1977 regarding the closure of the School.

To enable the older girls to complete their terms in St Joseph’s, the Sisters undertook the closure gradually. By 1979, the number of children resident in the School had fallen to eight. In 1983, there were just three senior girls resident in the School when it officially closed, and accommodation was provided for them in an apartment opposite St Joseph’s.

In 1879, the Bishop of Ossory, Dr Moran, acquired from the State an agricultural college known as ‘model farm’, for the purpose of establishing an industrial school for the boys of the diocese. It was situated just over a mile outside Kilkenny city, and consisted of a large house with outbuildings on about 80 acres of land. He invited the Sisters of Charity to take over the management and control of the model farm and convert it into an industrial school.

On 23rd December 1879, St Patrick’s was certified as an industrial school for the admission of 186 boys up to the age of 10 years.

St Patrick’s Industrial School closed on 25th November 1966. All the boys resident in the School at the time were transferred to other institutions. Later that year, with the approval of the Department of Health, St Patrick’s reopened as a school for children with severe or minor learning difficulties. It still provides residential care, day care, respite care and a special school for those with learning disabilities.

The Sisters of Charity were approached by the Bishop of Ossory, Dr Moran, in 1872 and asked ‘to care for the little homeless girls of the poor’. They had been a presence in Kilkenny since 1861, caring for the sick in fever and work house hospitals and prisons.

A site was purchased on the Waterford Road, and the Sisters moved into a large cottage on the grounds. In September 1873, a new building comprising a convent, school and chapel was opened. The School was certified on 22nd March 1873 for the reception of 126 girls, of whom 100 were chargeable. This was increased to 130 in 1950.

The School was transferred to the South Eastern Health Board on 6th April 1999. At that time, there were 10 children in care in two houses, Avondale and Crannog. Avondale was purchased by the Sisters of Charity in 1976, and leased to the South Eastern Health Board in 1999, and later transferred to them under the Redress Scheme. The other home, Crannog, was built by the Sisters of Charity with funds raised locally and through an exchange of land between the Sisters and the County Manager. In 1995, an adjoining house was purchased by the South Eastern Health Board, and the two houses then formed one unit. The original house was transferred, free of charge, to the South Eastern Health Board in 1999.

The Sisters of Charity provided a detailed description of all improvements, changes and adaptations made to the buildings and grounds between 1876 and 1984, which appears at Appendix 1.

The photograph of the convent and part of the Industrial School:

St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls opened in August 1846 in the grounds of the Dominican Convent in Cabra in Dublin. It is managed by the Dominican Sisters under the trusteeship of the Catholic Institute for Deaf People (formerly the Catholic Institute for the Deaf), which is under the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin.

The School was established at the request of Fr Thomas McNamara, a Vincentian Priest from Phibsborough, Dublin who was one of the founding members of the Catholic Institute for the Deaf. In 1845 when the Institute was founded there were no Catholic schools for the education of deaf children. The Catholic Institute for the Deaf sought to change this and, as a result, St Mary’s school was established for the education of deaf girls and in 1856 a boy’s deaf school was founded, also in Cabra, which was managed by the Christian Brothers.