10,992 entries for Inspections - State

A review of the Medical Inspection files for the relevant period shows that Dr McCabe was satisfied with the health of the children and the attention being paid by the Sisters to record keeping. Furthermore, in one instance, the Sisters paid for private treatment of over 40 children.

One complainant who was in the Institution during the 1940s, which was the period criticised by Dr McCabe, shared her views on the food there: Oh, it was terrible food ... You would get kind of watery soup. There might be bits of celery in it. It used to make me almost heave. Just, maybe, bits of meat and potatoes in it. The food, it wasn’t very good. It wasn’t something you looked forward to. You had to take it because there was nothing else. So the food was very bad there, I thought ... there was regular meals. You got breakfast, a bit of porridge in the morning. I was like a gruel, watery porridge. Then you got the dinner. Dinner was very poor. Then you got a bit of supper, a bit of bread and jam. That’s all I can remember ... Very little meat. I can’t remember ever getting eggs or bacon or anything like that. I’d never known food like that.

Another complainant was also in the School during that period. He was admitted in the mid-1940s after the break-up of his parents’ marriage: Well, food, we could have done with a bit more, you know. You didn’t get a lot for breakfast, there was only a bit of a slice of bread and a mug of tea. You had a bit of dinner then in the middle of the day and you had the same thing as you had for breakfast later on.

A witness who was there in the 1950s was critical of the food. He recalled: It was kind of a green mash, it was cabbage stalks and potatoes ... I remember getting that almost every day I was there: Green mash, bread and dripping, watery Cocoa. Egg flip, that was a kind of boiled milk with boiled eggs chopped up and put into it, you were given a ladle of it. There was other stuff they gave, castor oil with molasses in it in a big ceramic jug. The food wasn’t that good.

A witness who attended the School in the 1960s was quite clear that he had fared better in St Patrick’s than he would have at home: I know myself that you got food on a regular basis there; you got your breakfast, your dinner, your tea and you got cocoa going to bed. Food was not a problem there, I never felt hungry there. I might have felt frightened but I never felt hungry.

General conclusions. It was not possible for a handful of nuns to give an appropriate level of care to nearly 200 very young boys, irrespective of how hard–working and dedicated they were. 2. There was no accountability in the administration of punishment. 3. The authorities in St Patrick’s failed in their duty to keep proper records. The absence of documentary evidence, accordingly, does not mean that there was no abuse. 4. Record keeping is part of the duty of care and is intended to make an institution accountable. The absence of records has put both the Sisters of Charity and the witnesses at a disadvantage.

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:

During the period under review, 1,900 children passed through St Joseph’s, Kilkenny. Most of the children were committed through the courts in the earlier years, and the majority came from the counties Kilkenny, Tipperary, Dublin, Laois and Carlow in the period 1933 to 1966.

The Sisters of Charity also managed an industrial school for young boys known as St Patrick’s Industrial School in Kilkenny. It operated from 1879 to 1966. Between the period 1933 and 1966, the records of the Sisters show that 127 girls in St Joseph’s had brothers in St Patrick’s at the same time.

The children admitted to Kilkenny were very young. Between 1933 and 1966, 221 of the children admitted were under five years of age; 234 were aged between five and 10; and only 101 were over 10 on admission. The proportion of very young children increased between 1966 and 1999: 362 children under five years of age were admitted, and 261 were under 10; only 112 children were over 10 on admission.

There were 18 Resident Managers in St Joseph’s during the relevant period. In most cases, the Resident Manager was also the Local Superior. A number of Sisters from the Community were involved in the School, and a small number of lay staff worked in the School in teaching, farming and laundry.