Industrial Memories

During the 1936-70 period, the average percentages of boys committed in each year were: 93 percent (offenders), 90 percent (non-School attendance) and 75 percent (uncontrollable: a relatively small category).

On the other hand, in the case of those sent by local health authorities for the 1949-69 period (figures from Kennedy Report), the aggregate average figure is 49 percent for boys. For the large group of children within the category ‘lack of proper guardianship’ (including ‘having no home’) committal figures for the period 1936-70 show an average of 45 percent for boys. From 1949-50 until the early 1960s, when there is a clear change in the pattern, more girls than boys were committed every year under ‘lack of proper guardianship’. Again, while the real figures are small compared to the other categories, it is striking in the case of voluntary places the average figure for those sent annually during the period is only 16 percent boys.

One major reason why there were more girls overall lies in the age at which the children were committed. The annual reports from 1937-46 show that for children committed under the age of six the number of girls was 63 percent of the total. After 1946, annual education reports do not give figures for those committed under the age of six. The closest information (in Table F of the Kennedy Report) gives figures for the three categories: 10 years and under; 12-14; and over 14. It is possible by comparing these figures with the total numbers to deduce the numbers of boys and of girls below the age of 10 who were admitted. If a girl was committed at a younger average age, she stayed for a longer period in the school.

It is impossible to come to any definite conclusion on the question of whether the system was in some way biased in favour of sending girls to Industrial Schools. The difficulty is that almost the only information available is the net result, in other words the numbers of each gender sent to the Schools.

Recognition of an imbalance and speculation as to the reasons for it are to be found in a Department Memo, dated 16th April 1943. There are about 500 more girls than boys detained [the total School population in 1943 was 6,000]. The difference between the numbers of girls and boys in some counties is very great, e.g. Co Sligo 139 girls and 35 boys; Co Wexford 175 girls and 85 boys; Co Monaghan 78 girls and 26 boys; Co Cavan 70 girls and 14 boys. A comparison of the numbers of girls in these schools from wealthy counties like Wexford and Sligo with the numbers from much larger and poorer counties like Donegal (19) and Mayo (112) suggests that undue advantage is being taken of Industrial Schools in some districts. This may be due to some extent to the better distribution of the girls’ schools (there are two in each of the counties Wexford and Sligo), and the objection of parents to allowing their children to be sent to schools at a distance from their homes. This does not, however, explain the fact that from Co Cork which is well supplied with Boys’ Industrial Schools, there are 298 girls in these schools as compared with 187 boys. The present unduly large number of girls in industrial schools must be due largely to the fact that the Managers have an organised system of ‘touting’ for children; they have social workers who act as a sort of agent and get children committed to the schools. We have no means of preventing this practice, but I suggest that we consult the Department of Local Government with a view to getting the assistance of the Local Country Managers to ensure that children are not committed without sufficient reason, and to obtain periodical reports on the parents means when children are committed on the grounds of poverty.

It may be relevant here that there were more vacancies for girls. Another explanation that has been offered is that the imbalance is a reflection of the Catholic Church’s traditional concern with sex and sexual temptation. In one particular situation – a widower left with female children and no female family member to act as a mother substitute – anecdotal evidence is that such figures as the parish priest were quick to pronounce that the father could not cope and scandal might follow if the father should attempt to do so. Accordingly, his daughters had to be sent away and a School was often the recourse.

Another difference between boys and girls lies in the difference in size of the Schools for each gender. The following tables give the numbers of residents actually in the Schools, for the years indicated, not the accommodation limits. <table><colgroup><col></col><col></col><col></col></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Classification</th> <th>Average No of Pupils</th> <th>Range</th> </tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Girls, and girls and junior boys</td> <td>57</td> <td>7 to 123</td> </tr><tr><td>Junior boys</td> <td>64</td> <td>27 to 104</td> </tr><tr><td>Senior boys</td> <td>141</td> <td>64 to 310</td> </tr></tbody></table>

The following table presents figures which show the places available in Schools in each county and the number of residents who came from homes in that county. <table><colgroup><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col><col></col></colgroup><thead><tr><th></th> <th>Boys</th> <th>Girls</th> </tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>County</td> <td>Accommodation in Schools</td> <td>Residents from homes in county</td> <td>Ratio</td> <td>Accommodation in Schools</td> <td>Residents from homes in county</td> <td>Ratio</td> </tr><tr><td>Carlow</td> <td>0</td> <td>19</td> <td>X</td> <td>0</td> <td>30</td> <td>X</td> </tr><tr><td>Cavan</td> <td>0</td> <td>14</td> <td>X</td> <td>100</td> <td>30</td> <td>30%</td> </tr><tr><td>Clare</td> <td>0</td> <td>88</td> <td>X</td> <td>110</td> <td>139</td> <td>126%</td> </tr><tr><td>Cork</td> <td>785</td> <td>243</td> <td>31%</td> <td>700</td> <td>369</td> <td>53%</td> </tr><tr><td>Donegal</td> <td>0</td> <td>13</td> <td>X</td> <td>0</td> <td>22</td> <td>X</td> </tr><tr><td>Dublin Corporation</td> <td>0</td> <td>1061</td> <td>X</td> <td>360</td> <td>811</td> <td>225%</td> </tr><tr><td>Co. Dublin</td> <td>1150</td> <td>188</td> <td>16%</td> <td>96</td> <td>117</td> <td>122%</td> </tr><tr><td>Galway</td> <td>398</td> <td>131</td> <td>33%</td> <td>408</td> <td>236</td> <td>58%</td> </tr><tr><td>Kerry</td> <td>40</td> <td>100</td> <td>25%</td> <td>183</td> <td>140</td> <td>77%</td> </tr><tr><td>Kildare</td> <td>0</td> <td>44</td> <td>X</td> <td>0</td> <td>55</td> <td>X</td> </tr><tr><td>Kilkenny</td> <td>186</td> <td>64</td> <td>34%</td> <td>126</td> <td>61</td> <td>48%</td> </tr><tr><td>Leitrim</td> <td>0</td> <td>14</td> <td>X</td> <td>0</td> <td>24</td> <td>X</td> </tr><tr><td>Laois</td> <td>0</td> <td>37</td> <td>X</td> <td>0</td> <td>35</td> <td>X</td> </tr><tr><td>Limerick</td> <td>214</td> <td>159</td> <td>74%</td> <td>350</td> <td>190</td> <td>54%</td> </tr><tr><td>Longford</td> <td>0</td> <td>16</td> <td>X</td> <td>240</td> <td>18</td> <td>8%</td> </tr><tr><td>Louth</td> <td>150</td> <td>41</td> <td>27%</td> <td>100</td> <td>38</td> <td>38%</td> </tr><tr><td>Mayo</td> <td>0</td> <td>44</td> <td>X</td> <td>117</td> <td>94</td> <td>80%</td> </tr><tr><td>Meath</td> <td>0</td> <td>33</td> <td>X</td> <td>0</td> <td>28</td> <td>X</td> </tr><tr><td>Monaghan</td> <td>0</td> <td>20</td> <td>X</td> <td>140</td> <td>52</td> <td>37%</td> </tr><tr><td>Offaly</td> <td>0</td> <td>42</td> <td>X</td> <td>100</td> <td>46</td> <td>46%</td> </tr><tr><td>Roscommon</td> <td>0</td> <td>29</td> <td>X</td> <td>90</td> <td>86</td> <td>96%</td> </tr><tr><td>Sligo</td> <td>0</td> <td>25</td> <td>X</td> <td>305</td> <td>86</td> <td>28%</td> </tr><tr><td>Tipperary</td> <td>200</td> <td>235</td> <td>118%</td> <td>275</td> <td>305</td> <td>110%</td> </tr><tr><td>Waterford</td> <td>75</td> <td>128</td> <td>171%</td> <td>200</td> <td>108</td> <td>54%</td> </tr><tr><td>Westmeath</td> <td>0</td> <td>53</td> <td>X</td> <td>274</td> <td>52</td> <td>19%</td> </tr><tr><td>Wexford</td> <td>0</td> <td>76</td> <td>X</td> <td>246</td> <td>175</td> <td>71%</td> </tr><tr><td>Wicklow</td> <td>100</td> <td>51</td> <td>51%</td> <td>0</td> <td>31</td> <td>X</td> </tr></tbody></table>

On the assumption that when it was possible to do so, a resident from the county was sent to a School in the same county, the third column shows the ratio of places in Schools to residents with homes in that county. Where the ratio is less than 100 percent, it would have been possible for the Schools in the county to have accommodated all the residents for that county. On the other hand, in some other counties, the ratio exceeds 100 percent. This means that the number of residents with homes in the county exceeded the number of places in Schools in the county. Thus, even assuming that none of the places in the Schools in a county was allocated to a resident from outside, it would not have been possible for the Schools to have accommodated all the residents from that county. In a number of counties, there were no Schools, which is indicated by an ‘X’ in the third column.

Figures are taken from the annual departmental reports for the year 1946-47, when the Schools population was at its highest. The problem of children having to be sent to a School outside the county of their homes would have lessened after 1946-47, although some allowance should be made for the fact that two senior Schools, Baltimore and Killybegs, closed in 1950. Cork, Limerick and Waterford cities’ figures are added to those of their counties.

Most schools took only boys or only girls. The Table reflects this by giving separate figures for boys’ and girls’ Schools. As regards boy’s Schools, the Table shows that in 17 of the counties there were no Schools, so that residents from those counties had to be sent outside the County.45 In addition, the ratio exceeded 100 percent in Tipperary and Waterford.

In the case of girls, there were seven counties with no Schools. And in Dublin Corporation, County Dublin, Clare and Tipperary the ratio exceeded 100 percent so that some residents from those counties had to be sent to a School outside the County. The most significant conclusion is that for both boys and girls, the gravest effect on the family life of residents impacted on those from Dublin. This effect was heightened both by the numbers going to the Schools from Dublin and also by the distance from Dublin to most of the Schools outside Dublin.

During the relevant period, discussions of the Schools in the Dail were infrequent and brief, and even more so in the Seanad.

With a single exception, there were no general motions on Industrial Schools. Even the reaction to Cussen and Kennedy came not in the form of a formal ministerial statement followed by a debate, but as incrementally expanding replies to Dail questions. The exception was in the Seanad and was a general discussion, lasting five hours, on a motion to take note of the Kennedy Report (though taking place on 10th December 1973, some three years after publication of the Report) proposed by Senators Robinson and West, representing Trinity College, Dublin. This elicited an unusually detailed, unguarded and heartfelt response from John Bruton, the Parliamentary Secretary at the Department of Education.

Likewise, there was little debate on the estimates for the Schools. With most estimates, Opposition deputies seize the latitude allowed to roam around the subject matter, unrestricted by the procedural limitations that apply in other forms of proceedings. But in this field, the estimate was usually passed off with an unchallenged statement from the Minister of the amount to be spent.

Themes

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