375 entries for Historical Context
BackCarriglea officially closed on 30th June 1954. Numbers in all of the industrial schools run by the Christian Brothers were steadily declining, a fact which had a corresponding impact on the income of the schools. The Provincial Council decided to close one of its industrial schools, and at the same time implement a policy of segregation, whereby delinquent boys would be segregated from non-delinquents. It was decided to close Carriglea and use the building as a juniorate for the training of Christian Brothers. June 1954. Numbers in all of the industrial schools run by the Christian Brothers were steadily declining, a fact which had a corresponding impact on the income of the schools. The Provincial Council decided to close one of its industrial schools, and at the same time implement a policy of segregation, whereby delinquent boys would be segregated from non-delinquents. It was decided to close Carriglea and use the building as a juniorate for the training of Christian Brothers.
In 1954, there were 176 boys resident in Carriglea. They were transferred to other industrial schools as follows: 122 boys were transferred to Artane, eight went to Upton, seven to Greenmount, 20 to Tralee, and 19 to Glin. These transfers took place on 21st June 1954.1
At the same time as the decision to close Carriglea was made, the decision was also made to confine admissions to Letterfrack to boys convicted of offences that would incur imprisonment if committed by an adult. This decision is discussed in full in the Letterfrack chapter. It met with strong opposition from the Department of Education, the Department of Justice and members of the Judiciary. The objections all focused on the unsuitability of Letterfrack because of its isolation and distance from Dublin, from where most of these children came. The Christian Brothers were adamant, however, and Letterfrack was designated in 1954 as the Christian Brothers’ industrial school for all convicted children under 14.
Clearly, it would have been a better decision for the children in care to close Letterfrack and keep Carriglea open. There was no record of such a suggestion being put to the Provincialate by either the relevant Departments or by District Judges. The fact that the Brothers owned the schools meant they were entitled to do what they liked with their own property. Irrespective of whether the property had been donated2 for a particular purpose, or had been purchased through fund-raising, once the legal title was vested in the Congregation, the Department of Education was powerless to influence the decision.
The inquiry into St Joseph’s Industrial School, Glin consisted of an analysis of the documentary material from various sources, namely the Christian Brothers, the Department of Education and Science, and the Bishop of Limerick.
The Congregation supplied extra material between March 2007 and June 2008, pursuant to a decision to waive legal privilege that would, if it was applicable to the documents, have protected them from disclosure. Two reports on Glin gave information on the management and structure, and they have been used in compiling this report, particularly with respect to historical data and statistics. Mr Bernard Dunleavy BL was asked to report on the archival material on Glin that was in the Provincial House, Cluain Mhuire, and he asked Brothers who had been in Glin to write memoirs of their experiences there. Following this report, Br John McCormack also researched the documentation and spoke to Brothers who were in Glin when it operated as an industrial school. The McCormack report was made available to the Committee in March 2007, and the Dunleavy report in June 2008.
St Joseph’s Industrial School began in a large purpose-built block in Sexton Street, Limerick, in 1872. It was established under the Industrial Schools Act (Ireland), 1868, to care for and educate neglected, orphaned and abandoned Roman Catholic boys who were at risk of becoming delinquents and entering a life of crime. The underlying philosophy was that giving such boys a basic education and a trade would make them useful citizens by preparing them for work in industry or farming.
The School remained on this site until 1928 when it transferred to the former Glin District School in west County Limerick, where the School continued until it closed in 1966.
In 1894, Bishop Dwyer of Limerick proposed to the Local Government Board that children currently residing in workhouses of Counties Limerick and north Kerry should be gathered into a District School under the management of the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy. This District School was housed in the old workhouse buildings at Glin. In 1920, workhouses throughout Ireland closed and, in 1924, the Board of Health decided to close Glin District School. By 1926, the School ceased to exist.
The Christian Brothers petitioned the Department of Education that St Joseph’s Industrial School be transferred to this site from the now-overcrowded building in Sexton Street. The Minister for Education recommended the transfer to Glin, subject to a satisfactory report by the Inspector of Schools on the suitability of the buildings, and provided certain alterations and improvements were made to the existing buildings. Renovation and improvement works costing £15,000 were carried out. It involved the installation of a new hot water heating system, dining hall, infirmary, chapel, new floors in the dormitories, new windows and doors, new steam presses and new cookers.
In June 1928, the staff and boys of St Joseph’s Industrial School moved to their new premises at Glin, some 50 kilometres from Limerick City. Despite the alterations, it was never a suitable building for a boys’ residential school. A letter from the Brother Provincial on 14th November 1961 suggested it did not become the property of the Christian Brothers. He wrote, ‘Glin was the only workhouse that was handed over to us and hence the only Industrial School for which we are paying rent to the Department of Health’. Correspondence with the Christian Brothers confirmed that Glin never became the property of the Christian Brothers, but was leased at a yearly rent of £40 from Limerick Health Authority. In 1970, the premises were returned to the Authority.
The majority of boys who were committed to Glin through the courts came from impoverished and dysfunctional backgrounds. Some were committed for criminal offences. Court orders and School registers retained by the Christian Brothers show that, during the period 1940 to 1966, a total of 759 boys, of whom 131 were illegitimate, were committed to the School.
The number of children in Glin grew during the 1930s and 1940s, reaching a peak of 212 in 1949 and 1950. There was a steady decline in numbers during the 1950s and 1960s, and the School was closed in 1966, at which stage there were 48 boys in residence. The following table sets out the numbers of boys in the School:<br><table><colgroup><col></col><col></col></colgroup><thead><tr><th><strong>Year </strong></th>
 <th><strong>Number under detention</strong></th>
 </tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1937</td>
 <td>172</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1938</td>
 <td>154</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1939</td>
 <td>158</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1940</td>
 <td>158</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1941</td>
 <td>187</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1942</td>
 <td>200</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1943</td>
 <td>208</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1944</td>
 <td>200</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1945</td>
 <td>206</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1946</td>
 <td>208</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1947</td>
 <td>211</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1948</td>
 <td>211</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1949</td>
 <td>212</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1950</td>
 <td>212</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1951</td>
 <td>203</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1952</td>
 <td>187</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1953</td>
 <td>182</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1954</td>
 <td>190</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1955</td>
 <td>160</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1956</td>
 <td>142</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1957</td>
 <td>133</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1958</td>
 <td>123</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1959</td>
 <td>120</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1960</td>
 <td>103</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1961</td>
 <td>91</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1962</td>
 <td>90</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1963</td>
 <td>82</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1964</td>
 <td>80</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1965</td>
 <td>68</td>
 </tr><tr><td>1966<br></br></td>
 <td>48</td>
 </tr></tbody></table>
The average age of boys committed to Glin was nine years and 10 months, and the average stay of these boys was five years and eight months.
Mr Dunleavy BL, in his report on Glin Industrial School, examined the reasons for boys being admitted. During the period 1940 to 1947, he tabulated his findings as follows:<br><table><colgroup><col></col><col></col></colgroup><thead><tr><th><strong>Reason for admission</strong></th>
 <th><strong>Number</strong></th>
 </tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Destitution</td>
 <td>111</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Larceny</td>
 <td>62</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Not attending school</td>
 <td>61</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Wandering</td>
 <td>49</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Having a parent not a proper guardian</td>
 <td>38</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Parents unable to control child</td>
 <td>12</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Receiving alms</td>
 <td>10</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Being under the care of a parent with criminal habits</td>
 <td>6</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Homelessness</td>
 <td>5</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Fraudulent conversion</td>
 <td>2</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Housebreaking</td>
 <td>2</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Assault</td>
 <td>2</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Malicious damage</td>
 <td>2</td>
 </tr><tr><td>Total<br></br></td>
 <td>362</td>
 </tr></tbody></table>