Justice, finally? Statutory inquiry into child sexual abuse at Irish schools
31 October 2024
By Kathleen Starck
On 3 September 2024 the Irish Times reports that the government has agreed to finally establish a statutory inquiry into the sexual abuse of children at schools. In addition, there are demands to widen this to also include beatings and similar corporal punishments. Now in preparation for the inquiry, legislation is being drawn up and interviews with survivors are being planned.
What set the stone rolling were recent allegations of child sexual abuse at Blackrock College in Dublin. This prompted the commissioning of a government report on schools managed by religious orders between the 1960s and the 1990s. The report found 2400 allegations of sexual abuse in more than 300 schools run by religious orders and 884 alleged abusers in 42 orders. The Education Minister Norma Foley stressed how this was for the first time that the large extent of abuse had been revealed and called it “shocking”. As the publication of the report has produced an outpouring of survivors’ testimony, the statutory inquiry is to include also schools that are not run by religious orders as well as day and boarding schools.
RTE has also recently broadcast a TV documentary on the topic and reveals that according to the Department of Education between 1962 and 1982, 108 allegations involving physical abuse by teachers were recorded. The actual number might be much larger, though, as many cases were not recorded. RTE also aired a radio documentary, The Blackrock Boys, in 2022, which has won the prestigious Best European Audio Investigation of the Year (world’s largest competition for public-service media).
Corporal punishment in Ireland was only banned in 1982. Until then, at least in theory, it was only “certain nominated teachers” who were allowed to physically discipline children. However, according to RTE, many other teachers also employed violence.
The statutory inquiry is not only supposed to find facts, but also to fully hold accountable the organisations and institutions involved.
Irish Times
The Guardian
RTE documentary
https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/1030/1478097-historical-abuse-schools/
BBC on the Report and the Statutory Inquiry
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c207ypx22ego
Radio RTE documentary on “The Blackrock Boys”
https://www.rte.ie/radio/doconone/1333550-blackrock-boys
Award for Blackrock Boys