10,992 entries for Inspections - State
BackAn issue that arose during the course of the oral hearings into Carriglea was how the boys were dealt with when the School closed down in June 1954. As stated above, the boys were transferred to a number of other industrial schools on 21st June 1954. However, evidence from a number of witnesses referred to the fact that they were given no prior notice of their transfer. Instead, they were informed of the decision to transfer them on the morning that they were due to leave, and no explanation was provided.
One witness recalled that none of the boys received prior warning about the transfer to Artane. On the day that he was transferred, he, along with the other boys, was told to get his belongings and go down to the schoolyard and then he was put on a bus. He eloquently summed up the effect of this lack of preparation and forewarning on him: It was just total bewilderment. It was totally distressing. I was already distressed being sent away from home at a young age. I was just starting to settle in there when I was uprooted and sent to Artane.
Another witness who was also transferred to Artane recounted a similar experience. He also said in evidence that the boys were not informed about the move prior to the transfer and, further, were not even told which school they were being sent to. He recalled that there was no discussion or talk whatsoever about the closure of Carriglea; it was kept very quiet. He described the events of the morning of the transfer: Buses came in, we were bussed off ... Some went all over different parts of Ireland. They were friends I had for five years and I never seen them again.
The children’s feelings were disregarded on the occasion of being moved from the home that they knew and where their friends and companions were.
General conclusions 1. The Christian Brothers had adequate funding to provide a reasonable standard of care to the boys who were sent to Carriglea. They did not deliver this in terms of food, clothing or accommodation. 2. Chronic mismanagement, followed by a harsh and punitive regime, caused abuse of the children. 3. Discipline was enforced by harsh and severe corporal punishment. Measures taken to restore order in the School included the appointment of staff who had been severely criticised in other institutions for excessive physical punishment. Transferring these Brothers to Carriglea introduced a level of violence, in the interests of order, at the expense of the boys’ welfare. 4. The Congregation made a considerable profit from the closure of Carriglea, which could have been used for the benefit of the children while it was operating as an industrial school. 5. Carriglea provided a good standard of national school education to the boys, although it is regrettable that, from 1940, no boy was given the opportunity of secondary education. 6. There were some positive elements in education and preparation for employment, but trades training was poor. 7. There was evidence of the success of one Brother’s practical approach to preparation for future careers. 8. Documentary evidence records sexual abuse by two Brothers who served in Carriglea. Assigning these Brothers to Carriglea showed disregard of the danger the Brothers presented. 9. Emotional abuse was brought about by: the unruly and chaotic manner in which the School was run for a period; the subsequent introduction of violent Brothers to restore order; the predatory sexual behaviour and bullying by boys on other more vulnerable boys; the high turnover of staff; and the absence of recreation facilities. 10. For much of the period of inquiry, the School was dilapidated and run-down, with poor sanitary conditions.
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.