61 entries for State Inspections

Dr McCabe conducted a General Inspection of the School in June 1944 and, once again, noted the tattered and patched state of the children’s clothing and footwear. The Resident Manager complained about the difficulty in obtaining supplies and the prohibitive cost of material. He criticised the practice under which children were discharged into the care of their parents after spending only a short time in the Institution. This had a destabilising effect on the other children. He also regarded it as unfair that the Brothers fit these children out with new clothes, only for them to leave a short time later. Dr McCabe also noted that the premises were badly in need of repair.

Dr McCabe conducted an Inspection of the School in June 1953 and, while she accepted that the School was well run, she noted that many improvements were required. She suggested a new washing machine and colander for the laundry.

In 1967, a thorough and critical Report was written following the Visitation. The Visitor stated that he did not agree with the writer of the previous year’s Report that the Brothers were doing a good job in Salthill. In short, he believed that Salthill was unsuitable, particularly for the older boys. He felt that a more personalised and childcare-focused approach should be adopted and was critical of the fact that little was known by the staff of the individual backgrounds of the boys. He remarked that, should an outside authority inspect the School, the Brothers might not be happy with the contents of any consequential report. However, less than a year previously, Dr Lysaght had conducted an in-depth inspection of the School on behalf of the Department, which was complimentary of all aspects of the School. This demonstrates a different focus by the Department in their reporting procedure.

The only detailed reports available to the Investigation Committee were the annual inspections carried out by the Christian Brother Visitors from 1938 to 1989.

These appalling conditions were confirmed by an inspection carried out for the Department, which made it quite clear that remaining at Glencree was not an option, and that it would be more economical in the long run to provide suitable accommodation elsewhere: roofs, staircases and floors required replacing; the roofs of the workshops leaked and one section of the first floor was too dangerous to be in use; walls were falling outwards and would have to be rebuilt; the bake house was ‘dark, dirty, and thoroughly unhygienic’; washbasins had only cold water supplied ‘from a small hole in the water pipe placed above the basins’; the only plunge bath was an old iron one in the corner of the building; the whole ‘ablution system’ was obsolete, unhygienic and a danger to health; and the lavatory accommodation was described as ‘appalling’.

It came under the remit of the Department’s Reformatory and Industrial School Branch, whose Inspector had the duty to carry out inspections relating ‘to all the children and the entire accommodation in the school at the time of his/her visit’.3 ‘All the children’ meant the responsibility extended to children on short term remand as well as those committed by the Courts to be detained in the school.

The Assistant Secretary stated in an internal memorandum in 1945 to the Secretary that the letter ‘is reasonable enough on the whole’ and that he did not expect that the Resident Manager would actually resign the certificate. The course taken by the Department was simply to do nothing more about the matter and to let it all blow over. When the Medical Inspector, Dr Anna McCabe,54 carried out a routine General Inspection of the School on 19th March 1945, she had a long discussion with Fr Giuseppe about the situation and particularly his threat to resign the certificate. She considered that the threat was ‘a bit of a bluff’. The Manager informed her that he could always turn the School into a secondary boarding school. By April 1945, a reply to the Manager’s letter had not been issued from the Department, and they felt it was unnecessary to do so and that it was safe to ‘assume that the Provincial will not pursue his threat to resign the Cert. of the School?’.

Dr McCabe’s last inspection was carried out on 12th May 1964. On that occasion, the Resident Manager, Fr Eduardo, came in for particular praise by her: Fr Eduardo deserves the greatest praise for the work he has done since his appointment. He has redecorated all the school inside and outside and its appearance is much better and brighter. Great improvements everywhere.

On 22nd February 1961, Dr McCabe noted that the clothing was ‘improved’, but she specifically recommended that the boys ‘could do with a new issue of clothing all around’. The subsequent Inspection Reports do not provide any insight as to whether this recommendation was carried out. When she visited the School on 20th June 1962, she again remarked that the clothing was ‘improved’. In 1963, she said it was ‘much improved’ and, by 1964, she described it as ‘much better’.

Some five months after this Visitation, Br Blanco, a member of the General Council, carried out an unusually long Visitation to Greenmount. It lasted 12 days rather than the usual two to three days. Allegations of sexual abuse of boys were made against two respected members of the Community, Br Carlito, the Resident Manager, and Br Garcia, either before or during this Visitation.

The Inspectors conducted their Inspections over two days. They noted that the children were supervised by teachers during school and trades training, and by the Brothers during recreation. Night watchmen patrolled the dormitories at night time.

Three months later, Dr McCabe was requested to carry out another Inspection of the School, after the mother of a resident complained to the Department that her son had head lice. In general terms, she noted a decline in the standards at the School, which she suggested may have had something to do with the inexperience of the new Resident Manager. She inspected each child’s head and was dismayed to find ‘35 boys with nits in their heads and 12 verminous. I consider a shocking state of affairs’. Br Carlito attempted to apportion blame to the School nurse, who he said insisted that her remit extended only to treating sick children. Dr McCabe noted that the majority of the boys who had contracted head lice were in the age group 8 to 12 years, and she felt that the problem stemmed from a lack of supervision of the boys’ personal hygiene. She suggested that the nurse’s salary be increased, in return for her agreement to supervise the boys in the dressing room to ensure that they washed properly.

The Department was also asked specifically if it had carried out any inspections in Our Lady of Good Counsel, Lota during the period 1939 to 1990. The Department replied: From enquiries made both within the Department and the H.S.E (S.H.B. area) this division is not aware of any inspections having being carried out by Department in Our Lady of Good Counsel during this period.

The Department of Health stated that the ‘only inspections carried out and on behalf of The Department of Health and Children during the period 1939 to 1990 were in respect of children in Care in Foster Homes’.

The Brothers of Charity conducted two kinds of Visitation. One was a general inspection of St. Joseph’s Province, with the Visitor reporting on every school within it. The second kind was a specific Visitation of Lota, which usually lasted a number of days. It reviewed how the School was being run and the extent to which the Congregation’s Rules were being observed.