2,143 entries for Witness Testimony

Ninety one (91) witnesses reported that arrangements for the management of menstruation were poor or non-existent in relation to almost all Schools across all decades covered by this Report. Witnesses from four Schools stated that there were no sanitary towels provided for their use. Residents were obliged to use newspaper, rags and whatever suitable material they could find as substitutes. In a number of Schools witnesses described being provided with reusable sanitary cloths. In the period up to the 1960s it was commonplace for residents to hand-wash their own sanitary cloths, the adequate provision of which was frequently problematic as they were carefully rationed. Witnesses from 13 Schools reported that in addition to their own, they also had to hand wash nun’s personal garments including sanitary towels. Witnesses stated that the poor facilities for bathing and the changing of personal garments led to considerable discomfort, chapped skin, rashes and offensive personal odours. And the periods, queuing up for sanitary towels, you got 2 that was it. It was horrible, you would smell. You would wash them out and put them back on wet.

Four (4) Schools were reported to have dry toilets prior to 1960; these toilets were outside and unlit. Cleaning toilets and clearing blocked drains was a work task reported as given to residents without protection for their hands and minimal washing facilities. At night time chamber pots were provided under beds for residents of all ages in most Schools prior to the 1960s. In one School a witness reported that ‘a bucket in a cupboard was the only toilet for 50 girls locked in the dormitory overnight’. The toilets were always overflowing, it was terrible, we kept ...(cleaned)... them, the girls, you had to keep the toilets the same as the floors, we unblocked them. The stench was terrible. • I had charge of the toilets downstairs and they were ... filthy, you had to clean them. There was no toilet paper or anything, oh God, they were awful.

Five (5) Schools were reported as getting new indoor toilet and bathroom facilities in the 1950s. Witnesses from more than one of these Schools stated that they were not allowed to use the new facilities for some time after they were installed. They reported that these new facilities were opened for use before inspectors or visitors came but otherwise remained unused. We had a lavatory room as they called them, but we weren’t allowed use them. When inspectors came there was a towel on every sink and a bar of carbolic soap. There was new bathrooms, but we never used them.

Forty eight (48) witnesses from 12 Schools reported infestations or infections with some or all of the following: head lice/nits, scabies, thrush, ringworm, impetigo and fleas. Witnesses who had head lice commented that the treatment was at times to cut the infected residents’ hair. Witnesses from two Schools reported that they manually picked the lice from each other’s hair. Other treatments included the application of undiluted Jeyes Fluid, paraffin, treatment lotion and fine combing. ‘When we got there ...(when first admitted)... we were put into the care of 2 helpers who put us into a Jeyes Fluid bath, who cut our hair, steel fine combed our hair.’ Staff in three Schools were reported to deal with scabies infections by painting residents with a white or purple solution; witnesses reported that they stood in line naked for this treatment and that the same brush was used on many residents. Witnesses reported that spraying residents’ heads and beds with DDT was the treatment for fleas and head lice in six Schools in the pre-1960s period. There was about 26 beds in each room. The beds were full of fleas, they used to put DDT on the bed. Sometimes it was entertaining, we’d watch it jump and say “look at this one, look at this one”.

Witnesses described underwear garments as loose and shapeless with limited availability of bras for residents in many Schools prior to the 1970s. It was frequently reported that during the early years witnesses were supplied with bodices that were worn tightly bound to flatten their breasts. I went with a bra on me, and there was an older girl there and she said Mth ...X... said “take off that bra” and she gave me this thing ...(bodice)... and it had strings on it. It was to flatten me.... I used to be in agony, but they made me wear it.

For witnesses discharged in the 1970s and 1980s clothing continued to constitute reports of neglect and many described being embarrassed by old-fashioned and second-hand clothes that identified them as ‘industrials’ or orphans in the outside world. Nineteen (19) witnesses discharged in the 1970s reported that they did not have clothes of their own and that everything they wore was communal property. One nun, she was teaching us, I remember her saying we were being stigmatised going to school outside and they would have to do something about it ...(get new clothes).... She used to say it was not nice, she was in the convent and she couldn’t go against them ... (Sisters in charge of residents)....

Twenty nine (29) witnesses reported that supervision at play times was inadequate and that bullying by co-residents was a frequent occurrence. Components of the bullying behaviour reported by witnesses included being sexually and physically abused, in addition to being exposed to less direct forms of abuse such as being reported to staff for punishment, forced to do unpleasant tasks and being deprived of food. Supervision in the refectories and dormitories was generally described as minimal, with, in some Schools, as many as 100 residents routinely reported to be supervised by one staff member. Witnesses stated that the lack of supervision in the refectories allowed older residents to have first pick of the food or simply take it from younger residents, who were generally left to fend for themselves. There was fighting among the girls, there was no supervision at all. On Saturday there would be no staff and the beatings by the older girls ... they were terrible, terrible.

Most Schools employed some lay staff who were generally believed to be untrained for the task of providing care for children. Witnesses reported that there were some residents retained when they were 16 years old by the nuns to work as lay staff, many of whom were believed to have been in the Schools all their lives. Witnesses expressed some understanding for the frequently harsh behaviour of these staff: ‘They treated others as they were treated themselves’. Witnesses said that lay staff including the former residents received no specific training for their work with children until the 1970s and 1980s when it was reported that staff from certain Schools were trained as childcare workers: The workers were the same age as ourselves like, if we were 15 they were 18.... They started training when I was there; they used to tell us one day a week that they were going for training.

Educational neglect was described by many witnesses both in terms of the standard of education provided and, for some, receiving no education at all. One hundred and eighty seven (187) witnesses reported leaving school with poor literacy skills and no qualifications. Sixty three (63) witnesses reported long-term literacy problems. Witnesses reported that their education was neglected through the competing demands of domestic work, excessive emphasis on religious instruction, fear of punishment in the classroom and being discriminated against as children from an Industrial School. Other witnesses reported that they received no assistance for their learning difficulties and were significantly disadvantaged in later life as a result. If you weren’t bright they didn’t help you and anyway you couldn’t learn with the beatings. I only learned how to clean and cook. Mth ...X... used to say to me “you think you will be a star but you won’t be, the way your mother turned out”. .... When I was leaving Sr ...Y... said “don’t turn out like your mother” ...(mother had been in laundry).... I did not know what she meant.... • My days were reduced to the laundry and cleaning and scrubbing. You would be getting younger children up and cleaning them and potties ...(chamber pots)... etcetera. Then it was cleaning, polishing and scrubbing, cleaning corridors, folding clothes and the laundry.... I left not able to read and I was always embarrassed of my writing, it’s very childlike. Even taking down a message in my job I practice it a hundred times. There was an awful lot of work and no education which is something I always regret. Only a very selective few were sent out to school. • You were constantly told you were a misfit, I had a problem no one could understand, I couldn’t write. There were pets, they got special help with their classes, good looking, sweet little angelic looking girls, they were the pets. I got no help, I asked for it but I wasn’t a pet.

One hundred and seventy eight (178) witnesses (58%) reported that they completed their classroom education by the age of 14 years, of whom 34 reported that they did not attend class after 12 years of age. Eight (8) witnesses stated that they were taken out of class to work full-time before the age of 10 years, including two who reported no memory of ever attending school. We had some sort of education up until about 7 ...(years old)... after that I had no education. After that it was decided who would go to school, outside school ...(local primary school).... I put up my hand, Sr ...X... said “you aren’t going anywhere”.

In a number of Schools the strenuous nature of the work, rising early for kitchen or laundry duties, and caring for younger co-residents at night left witnesses tired and unable to benefit from education. Ninety eight (98) witnesses reported being kept from attending class to work in and for the institution when their stated wish was to continue their education. Forty five (45) witnesses reported that they were at times called away from the classroom or came late to class because of chores they had to do beforehand. Others reported being routinely kept out of class on a rotating basis to work in the kitchens and other parts of the institution. Six (6) witnesses reported that they attended class only for the day of the inspector’s visit and that they were otherwise occupied with domestic chores. In the main these reports related to witnesses discharged before the 1970s: I was a very intelligent child. I would soak up knowledge and really resent not having had the chance to have a really good education. ... (I was)... pulled out at 11 and a half or 12 and worked in the orphanage. ... Work in the orphanage prevented me studying. I got highest marks in Primary Certificate in the whole school ...(local primary school)...(and was)... sent around to the whole school with the certificate. • I was in the secondary school one day, I was there for 6 months, she ...(Sr X)... came in and called me out and she said ...“Y...(named co-resident)... is going today, she is 16 and you are now taking her place”. I was going to work in the kitchen. I was so shocked, I really wanted to stay in school. ... I had to go to the kitchen and then I was moved to the farm.

Many reports were heard of co-residents being given preferential treatment in relation to school attendance, particularly from Schools where residents attended external primary, technical and secondary schools. Witnesses frequently remarked that they were not allowed to go out to school because they were not favoured as ‘pets’ of the religious staff. Forty two (42) of the 83 witnesses who reported attending second level education did so in the period before free secondary education was introduced. They used to say to us, “3 children would be picked” to go for education. I was bright I wanted to get ahead, I wanted to go to secondary school. I didn’t get the opportunity. Three girls were picked, they were ... (pets) ..... I think it was a bit of class distinction, if they came from a better background, or if their aunt was a nun they would be picked.

Witnesses reported that at times their educational opportunities were denied by not having their own school books or the facilities or encouragement to do homework in the evenings. Many reported being denied the opportunity to participate in extra curricular activities and that, having been reared and educated in an institutional setting, the adjustment to attending second level schooling in the local area was a considerable challenge. As a witness said: ‘I didn’t know how to act with people outside the School when I went to the tech ...(technical school)...’.

Witnesses from a small number of Schools reported having to share their bed with either a sibling or a younger co-resident. For some witnesses there was a comfort in this arrangement; for others it was regarded as unpleasant especially in the context of bed-wetting. We slept 2 to a bed. I would be up all night clapping the sheet, trying to dry the sheet to avoid a beating for my sister and blowing on it. I never had my own bed. Later I shared a bed with another girl.

One hundred and thirty eight (138) witnesses reported that when they were ill or injured their healthcare was neglected and necessary treatment was not provided. Forty nine (49) witnesses reported being punished, not believed or ignored when ill. Witnesses stated: ‘I got better by myself’ and ‘The nuns always thought we were pretending or were looking for notice, it was a crime to be sick’.