10,992 entries for Inspections - State

The letter concluded by stressing the grave concern of the Association that: the many excellent recommendations for reform and improvement in the Child Care System contained on the Committee of Enquiry’s Report will not be acted upon or acted upon in a piece-meal fashion. It is obvious that a new Children’s and Families Bill should be presented to the Dáil. In furtherance of the objectives of the Committee of Inquiry’s Report, my committee is of the opinion that there is urgent need for a government established Commission of Enquiry into the present Child Care System and allied areas of Social Service.

The Protestant Child Care Association also replied to the Department of Education on 13th January 1971. They welcomed the report and pressed for the speedy implementation of the recommendations. They also made a number of recommendations not included in the Committee of Enquiry’s report. These were: revise law on minimum age of criminal responsibility; age of criminal responsibility to be school leaving age; no corporal punishment in any establishment; part-time crash courses for senior staff; hostel provision for handicapped; protect the retarded; fine for fund for family service as addition to maintenance orders for absconding husbands; treatment advisory panel for juvenile court.

They concluded by stating ‘We are strongly against placing the institutional Child into further institutions.’

Comhairle le leas Oige187 responded to the report on 14th January 1971 and stated: We welcome the report and whole heartedly agree with the recommendations made by the Committee of Enquiry into the Reformatory & Industrial School System. We are especially pleased to note that the Committee recognises the need for specially trained personnel in this field and recommends a break from the institutional to small group unit as a basis for an adequate system of child care.

The Protestant Adoption Society also replied on 14th January 1971, and opened their letter by stating, ‘In general this is a superb report’. However, they also noted: the only reference of consequence to non Roman Catholic children is contained in paragraph 1.5 on page 3.188 With this one paragraph the Committee appears to dismiss any further responsibility for non Roman Catholic Children. Although this paragraph so far as it applies to the rest of the Country may be correct, it is certainly not true of Cork. The position in Cork is that cases are referred by the Local Gardaí and the Inspector of the I.S.P.C.C. first to the Pastor of the child’s religious denomination and / or to a layman and it is only when they fail adequately to deal with the case that it is likely to come before the Courts. However, very few non Roman Catholic children are ever brought before the Courts in Cork. The Authorities have long since learned that this is a completely fruitless exercise. They know only too well that since there is no Institution to which a child in need of care can be committed the Courts are powerless to take any effective action in the matter. The result is that these children are permanently deprived of the right guaranteed by the Constitution to the same treatment as their peers. Whilst I recognise that the smallness of the number involved creates special difficulties it is not good enough for the Committee to sweep the problem under the carpet. If, however, the Committee’s excellent recommendation to replace Industrial Schools by small residential homes containing not more than seven to nine children is implemented, then the problem of non Roman catholic Children should be simple to solve.

The letter went on to comment that the report noted the link between young female offending and prostitution, but that they ‘noted with some alarm however the first recommendation of the Committee on page 45 that a closed psychiatric unit for their treatment should be provided’. The letter writer, Mr John B Jermyn conceded that he may have misinterpreted the intention behind the recommendation, but that if it meant that: they should all be locked up in some special form of mental Asylum than I heartily disagree with it. However I cannot think that the present homes which mostly seem to be run by Religious Orders are adequate to deal with the problem however good the intentions of the people who run them. I cannot think that a life of prayer and penance is an adequate substitute in the minds of a young prostitute for thee rewards of her profession. Experience has shown that Alcoholics Anonymous saves more people from alcoholism than all the Doctors and Psychiatrists put together. This is so because the alcoholics know they are being helped by others who have suffered the same torments as themselves. While I do not suggest by analogy that young prostitutes can be saved by ex-prostitutes neither do I believe that they can be rescued by professional Virgins. There must be a more reasonable solution than either permanent penance or incarceration in Asylums.

In relation to after-care, the letter complimented the report on the excellent recommendations noting: It is ludicrous to assume that a child brought up in the protective atmosphere of an Institution is capable of looking after himself at the age of 16. Even a well adjusted boy of this age with a sound and happy family background is not capable of doing so and must rely for some time upon the help and advice of understanding parents. The child from an Industrial School, unless he is extraordinarily lucky in his first placement, has no chance whatever of succeeding. The present failure rate is horrifyingly high.

The letter also argued that: There can be no doubt that it is far better for a child to be placed in a suitable foster home than in an Industrial School. However, the emphasis must be on the word suitable. In adoption cases the Adoption Board insists on a proper investigation of the home background and general suitability of the proposed adopting parents and ensure so far as it possible that the proposed adopting parents are of approximately the same social standing as the child’s natural parents. No less stringent enquiry should be made in the case of foster parents. It is a sad fact that the Cork Health Authority which is so excellent in every other respect falls down very badly indeed in this particular matter. Details of some of the more disastrous cases can be made available if required.

In March 1971, the Council for Social Welfare189 organised a seminar in Killarney, to discuss the implications of the Kennedy report. In an overview paper, Sr Winifred was broadly positive of both the analysis and the recommendations in the Report.

However, she did highlight that: there is not one word of appreciation or even commendation of the work done by voluntary bodies. We are told in the report if it were not for the dedicated work of many of our religious bodies the position would be a great deal worse than it is now! Talk about damning by faint praise. The one stark and most obvious fact in the situation is nowhere stated. Just how could any body, voluntary or statutory, be expected to provide a skilled and humane service on the pittance granted by the State?190

In her address to the seminar, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy highlighted what she claimed was a general lack of confidence amongst the Religious providing childcare services. This lack of confidence, she asserted, was: due in no small way to newspaper articles and TV programmes written and produced with inaccurate data or little insight into the nature of the life of the people whom they analyse, and sometimes hold up to ridicule. Criticism of the religious, especially the nun, by both clergy and laity is a popular sport, and can be quite devastating. We are out of date, immature personalities, when we are given credit for having any personality at all. Our attitudes to life, sex, to literature are out of touch and archaic. Our child care standards are low and our living standards are high. We give our children too much, or else we give them too little. Each of us could add to this litany of comments we have heard. Feedback of this nature is shaking the confidence of the religious, and they are understandably sensitive.191

In his contribution to the seminar, Mr Antoin O’Gorman, a member of the Kennedy Committee, responded to the points raised above about the role of the Religious in childcare, stated: I think it is right and appropriate to mention that the Committee did state clearly and sincerely that in point(ing) out limitations in the systems of Reformatory and Industrial Schools it was not the intention of the Committee to criticise those responsible for running the schools. Another matter which I think should be stated is that it was not the stated intention either explicitly or implicitly that religious should cease to participate in the work or to run the homes and schools.192

In April 1971, the Association of Resident Managers of Reformatory and Industrial Schools responded to the Committee of Enquiry’s Report. It described the Report as ‘an important event in the history of child care in Ireland’193 and went on to state that the report: emphasised community responsibility in the matter and revealed the extent to which the community directly and through Government had failed to provide the support required by those within the system to attain the standards for which they strove....Media coverage following the publication of the Kennedy Report emphasised the shortcomings of the system, and in general it appears that much of the good work done and being done was overlooked or misunderstood by the public at large. This is considered to be unfortunate in that it provides a scapegoat and diverts attention from the central point that ultimately the community as a whole is responsible for the system and for its development to meet modern standards by modern means.

The response outlined how the Report was discussed by assembled Managers at three specially convened means and that each Manager prepared and submitted an individual report which was collated to form a composite report which was then approved by the Association. The submission noted: The Religious Orders wish to participate in the work and to contribute to the development of a better system. They welcome the Report of the Committee on Reformatory and Industrial Schools in that it emphasise the need for Government and community support. As this document shows, they are in agreement with the Report on many issues, and have themselves been advocating such changes for a very long time. They are dissatisfied with the system now in existence and feel they have tolerated for too long the lack of Government support and grossly inadequate financing. The Religious Orders involved in the field of Child Care wish to participate in the work but not necessarily to administer it, and they wish the Government to state without further delay their view on the role of religious in child care. The Association recommends the earliest possible establishment of an advisory body to co-ordinate the general effort, and proposes in the meantime to establish a voluntary advisory body representative of the Association and professional interests, to devote immediate attention to the areas of assessment, training, research and optimum use of existing facilities. The Association is prepared to make a positive contribution towards the establishment of a better system of Child Care in Ireland.

The detailed recommendations made by the managers are to be found in Appendix 2. In addition, later that year, on 30th September, they reported: The Association of Resident Managers of Industrial and Reformatory Schools have made it clear in a report to the Minister for Education their conviction that the community as a whole must more fully recognise its responsibility to provide an improved system to care for deprived children, and that a central co-ordinating authority with statutory powers is essential to the effective operation of the system. It is recognised by the Association that, at best, it will be many years before a statutory body can be formed, and they have decided in the meantime to establish an Advisory Council with powers to form executive committees who will conduct working programmes in agreed priority areas; who will advise the Association on ways and means of achieving the optimum utilisation of present resources, and how best to contribute to the development in Ireland of the best possible system of child care.194