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It is not necessary to let people know about the (abusive) existence of the Redress Board....it is, however, much better to express your views regarding the abuses it permits against those that have been abused.....and continues to be the case......


http://www.freewebs.com/robbiedempsey61/guestbook.htm

Just been to website Robbie.
How dare abused persons  become strong and speak out.
The system thought you were well rid of by now.
To arise from the ashes is too much for them to handle so gag the bas***s
I wish all abused people to have this strength and come forth and have no fear at this time.
I decree 2007 to be Year Of Truth.

JUSTICE * JUSTICE * JUSTICE  * JUSTICE * REAL * RYAN * JUSTICE.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Some years ago, the whole of the "Justice" system and indeed the legal profession in the U K was practically brought to its knees , the release of the BIRMINGHAM SIX, THE MC GUIRE SEVEN, THE GUILDFORD FOUR, ETC, ETC.

This resulted in sweeping changes, the setting up of various bodies , not only to test "evidence" but judicial reviews becoming the norm when ANY doubt in relation to any conviction where the EVIDENCE HAD NOT BEEN HEARD IN FULL.

Marys Rafterys point is valid, and at the same time a "little"worrying, as phase three of the commission so far, has again resulted in the various orders been provided once again with a public platform for grandstanding, and once more we see each and every one of these "defenders" of their orders typifying self aggrandisment and STILL heaping superlatives upon themselves.

The whole basis of their "defence" once more becomes centralised on "underfunding and understaffed" as the main theme being pursued, along with many "WE DIDNT KNOW, AT THAT TIME, WHAT DAMAGE WOULD BE DONE, ETC, ETC.

From the transcripts, its chillingly clear that those in authority in these child Gulags, in particular from evidence recently heard of MOTHER SUPERIORS BEING SCHIZOID, RUTHLESS, RECKLESS, UNCARING, RIGIDLY UNBENDING CONVINCED IN THE BELIEF THAT THEY WERE DOING "GODS WORK", SO MUCH SO, THAT LIKE MANY "CARDINALS" THESE MOTHER SUPERIORS ALSO HELD THE BELIEF, THAT WHEN THEY TALKED, "IT WAS GOD TALKING", AND AS "GOD CAN'T DO ANY WRONG", THE SYSTEM WHICH EVOLED, THE BRUTAL SYSTEM WHICH EVOLVED HAS US WHERE WE ARE TODAY.

And where we are today, is the issue.

Contextually in an evidental sense, the writing is on the wall for these religious orders, so much evidence of past abuses, given by so many has led to unprecedented levels of "ostrich mimicking" to ensure that the REAL horrors of these Gulags NEVER emerge.

And its this "bending"of Judicial procedure to accomodate such suppression that I make the analogy of similar precedents which led in the past to so many "miscarriages of justice"

In the "old days", the courts operated on the premise that, THE POLICE COULDNT LIE, WOULDNT LIE, WOULD THEY, BUT THEY DID, AND DID SO OUT OF A NEED TO "SECURE CONVICTIONS" BUT IN THE religious CASE, WE HAVE THE "OPPOSITE", THEY ""HAVE" TO LIE, IN ORDER THAT A CONVICTION IS "NOT" SECURED.

An indemnity deal, coupled with secrecy, even in itself , those two vital ingredients so necessary to the religious have in a sense failed, the truth to some extent, has got out there, but its miniscule in comparsion to the publicity so enjoyed whenever any of these religious oders impose their sickening rhetoric on an unsuspecting public.

The Ryan Commission HAS to rise above political expediency and "expectations" imposed by their Political Masters, THE LAW DEMANDS IT, AND ANY CORROSIVE INFLUENCE OF THE JUDICIAL PROCESS IN RELATION TO DUE MERIT, WHERE DESERVED, WOULD BE A TRAVESTY.

THE "ENGINEERED REMOVAL" OF JUSTICE MARY LAFFOY HAS TO BE SEEN AS A WATERSHED AND BENCHMARK IN THESE PROCEEDINGS, IT UNDERLINED THE NEED, NOT ONLY POLITICALLY, BUT SOCIALLY, TO ENSURE THAT THE "TRUTH" OF THE REAL HORRORS OF GULAG LIFE WOULD "NOT BE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST" WE HAVE A NEED, NOT ONLY TO HEAR OF THE "TRUTH", BUT THE PRESSING NEED TO HEAR AND READ "EXACTLY" WHAT IT IS THAT THE RELIGIOUS ATTEMPT TO DEFEND.

THE EYES OF THE WORLD CENTRES ON THE RYAN COMMISSION, AND HOPEFULLY, IF JUSTICE IS TO BE SERVED, WE MIGHT JUST GET TO SEE IT IN "ACTION" OR WILL THE "OSTRICH MENTALITY WIN".  "AN ANGRY" SURVIVOR/VICTIM OF INSTITUTIONAL ABUSE NOW DOMICILED IN ENGLAND.

Last edited by Marie-Therese O' Loughlin (2006-12-27 09:17:57)

Barnardos Family Tracing Service
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ORIGINS
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Is the name of the family tracing and information service from Barnardos.

The service is specifically for people who spent part of their childhood in residential institutions.

Origins supports individuals who wish to access personal information held by the Department of Education and Science, other Government departments and religious orders concerning their stay in industrial or reformatory schools, or assists them in tracing family members.

Origins is an expansion of the independent information, advice and counselling service Barnardos has provided (on a voluntary basis) since 1977 for persons separated from their families of origin.

The service is funded by the Department of Education and Science.

The Origins Service consists of a team of Information Counsellors and administrative staff based in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Wexford and a Service Manager.


Diversity
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Origins staff will give the respect and recognition due to all former residents of industrial and reformatory schools, independent of their race, gender, age, marital or family status, sexual orientation, physical or mental capacities, ethnicity, membership of the Travelling community, social origin, or political or religious affiliations.

Accessing Your Records.
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The Department of Education and Science has provided an electronic copy fo the personal records of former residents of industrial schools to Barnardos. The records remain the property of the Department. Origins will only access the records of Origins service users.
What do the Records Contain? Records so not always contain the information you may hope to find.
Very few include day-do-day accounts of life in the schools. Things you remember clearly may not be recorded. For many people there are no records at all.

The Department of Education and Science only maintained records on former residents who were placed in industrial schools by the courts.


What Records Will I Be Given?
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You will be given any records about yourself, including medical records if they exist.
With regards to family members, we can give you their names, ages and the schools they attended if this information is recorded.
We cannot share the records of other family members with you without their permission.

We will also try to obtain information from other sources, which are not part of the Department of Education and Science database, about your time in an industrial or reformatory school, and about your family background. This may take more time.


Confidentiality
-----------------
We know that the information contained in these records is of an extremely personal and confidential nature.
Barnardos Information Counsellors will only access your records on your written request.
All of your records are treated as confidential within Barnardos.
Only staff members working directly on your enquiry, along with the Manger of the Origins Services, have access to your information.


Third Party Information
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“Third Party Information” is that which is written about another individual, or a document from another agency (for example, the ISPCC). Other agencies may want a formal request for permission before they release such documents.
You may need to write a letter requesting the documents (we could write the letter on your behalf).
Anything in your records about people other than your family members will not be shared with you, without their permission. Information regarding your history will not be shared with third parties unless:

a) you have given written permission, or
b) there are concerns for the safety of yourself or others, particularly the safety of children

The latter situation is exception; in the event of this situation, you will be fully informed.


How Will We Arrange for You to See your Records?
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After you have contacted us asking to see your records, and Information Counsellor will arrange a first meeting with you at a time that suits both of you.
After this meeting, we will search for your records. We will then arrange another meeting with you to discuss any information we have founds.

If for any reason it is not possible for you to visit our office nearest to you, please let us know.


Will I Need to Verify Who I Am?.
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Yes, you will need to provide proof of your identity when you meet with the Information Counsellor. Any one of the following items can be used as proof of identity:

Driving licence
Benefit book
Medical card
PPS card
Pension book
Savings book
If the item you bring does not contain your current address, please bring some other evidence to this purpose, such as a recent utility bill (ESB bill, telephone bill, etc.). This provides security for you and for us that only you can access your personal records.


What Will Happen When I Come to the Office?
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The Information Counsellor will go through your records with you and explain them to you. You may want to bring a partner or a friends with you for support, as some people find reading information about themselves and their family background distressing.
It may bring up memories of the past, which you thought had been forgotten.
It may be necessary for you to make more than one journey to the office to complete the reading of you records.
You can arrange this with the Information Counsellor who has researched your records.


Can I Take My Records Away?
-----------------------------------

Yes. When you have read through your records with the Information Counsellor, if you wish you will be able to take away a copy of everything you have read.

Sharing Records.
----------------------
We realize that it may seem quite natural for one member of a family to obtain records and then pass them on to the others.
But each individual's experience has been different. So please think carefully before passing on what you have learned to another member of your family.
If this family member has not had any preparation, they may find the information very distressing.
It can also be hurtful and damaging for a family member such as a parent to read what was written about them many years ago.

Will Reading My Records Answer All My Questions About the Past?
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This is unlikely. As we have already explained, there are many gaps in the records for all sorts of reasons.

People have different reactions to reading their records. Most people who have had information from their records are glad they asked.
Some say they have a better sense of who they are.
Some have a better understanding of why their families parted with them and this can be a healing experience.
Others are left with unanswered questions, which can be upsetting and disappointing.

Can Barnardos Refuse to Let Me See My Records?
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Only in very exceptional circumstances may we postpone access to your records.
In such an event, the reasons will be discussed fully with you.
This could happen where there was evidence of a real risk of serious harm occurring to yourself or another individual as a direct result of reading the records. In such unusual circumstances, Barnardos would be obliged to:

a) Show evidence of such a risk.
b) Ensure that you are well supported.
c) Review the decision to withhold the records within a reasonable time so that access to records could take place when the risk of serious harm has passed.


Tracing Family Members
As well as offering support in accessing your records, we will provide you with help in tracing family members from whom you have been separated as a child.
If our tracing service is successful in finding a family member on your behalf, we are not permitted to release that family member's current address without their consent. However, we will make every effort to mediate with your family member on your behalf and provide such supports as may be helpful.

Any such mediation and tracing undertaken under this section will be conducted in accordance with the customs, conventions and practices followed by Barnardos, and these will be explained fully when we meet with you.
This service is also available to people where the Department of Education and Science has maintained no records on his/her period of residence.


Protecting Children
-----------------------
Barnardos is an agency committed to the highest standards of child protection. You need to be aware that if you tell us about ill treatment of children in the present, we must pass this on to the police or the Community Care Social Work Team, whose duty it is to take action to protect children. We will always try to do this with care and sensitivity to your feelings.
We hope that, in such circumstances, you would understand the importance of taking this action.

Applying for the Service
----------------------------
You can apply for the service by contacting {or you can apply directly} to Barnardos.

Ragged Schools
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Ragged Schools is a name given to the 19th century charity schools in the United Kingdom which provided education and, in most cases, food, clothing, and lodging for destitute children. They received no government support.

The movement had its beginning in the magnanimous efforts of John Pounds (d. 1839), a disabled shoemaker of Portsmouth, but the zeal and eloquence of Thomas Guthrie greatly furthered the development and spread of these schools throughout the United Kingdom.

The Ragged Schools were charitable schools dedicated to the free education of destitute children. The movement started in Scotland in 1841, when Sheriff Watson established the Aberdeen Ragged School, initially for boys only; a similar school for girls opened in 1843, and a mixed school in 1845. From here the movement spread to Dundee and other parts of Scotland, mostly due to the work of the Rev Guthrie.

In 1844, the movement spread to England, with the establishment of the London Ragged School Union under the chairmanship of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Cooper was president for 39 years, in which time an estimated 300,000 destitute children received education. At the zenith of the movement, there were 192 Schools, with an average attendance of 20,000 pupils.

As well as giving very elementary education, the Ragged Schools engaged in a wide variety of social welfare activities such as running Penny Banks, Clothing Clubs, Bands of Hope, and Soup Kitchens. However, despite their alternate name of Industrial Feeder Schools, only three Ragged Schools gave trade instruction, the only form of education for which Government grants were available. With the advent of the board schools as a consequence of An Act to provide for Elementary Education in England and Wales (9 August 1870), the curricula of which did qualify for such grants, the number of pupils at Ragged Schools gradually declined.
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Ragged Schools, Industrial Schools and Reformatories
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Social reform was already underway in Britain before The Waifs and Strays Society was founded in 1882. This article looks at how some poor children were dealt with by the Victorian system.

In her discussion of the ‘Ragged Classes and Dangerous Classes’ Gertrude Himmelfarb briefly outlines the school provision made, ‘For the ragged classes … there were the ragged schools. … For the perishing classes who had not yet fallen into crime but were likely to do so, there were industrial schools. And for ‘juvenile offenders’ or ‘delinquents’ … who had already committed crimes … there were reformatory schools.’

(1) Ragged Schools
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For many of the destitute children of London, going to school each day was not an option. There was no such thing as free education for everyone. From the 18th century onwards there had been some ragged schools, however they were few and far between. They had been started in areas where someone had been concerned enough to want to help disadvantaged children towards a better life.

The schools were given this name because the children who attended had only very ragged clothes to wear and they rarely had shoes.
In other words they did not own clothing suitable in which to attend any other kind of school.

How did they start?
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In the beginning many of the schools were started by the Churches and were staffed by volunteers. However because of the growing number of children it soon became necessary to have paid members of staff. Many petitions to Parliament for grants were made.

The Ragged School Union
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During the 19th century many people began to worry about the neglected children and so more schools were opened. In 1844 the Ragged School Union was formed with Lord Shaftesbury as its chairman. In the beginning there were just 16 schools connected with it but by 1861 there were 176 schools in the union.

What did the schools provide?
---------------------------------
As well as giving basic lessons many schools provided food. As time went on some also opened refuges where the children could sleep especially in the extremely cold weather.

Even so there were still many areas where there was no provision. In 1853 John Garwood wrote ‘In one street … in the south of London, there now exist 1,500 destitute and criminal juveniles, for whom there is not even a school provided.’

(2)

Many people believed that by giving the children an education they would be enabled to lead a better life in the future.
They would be able to find work to keep themselves and so would not need to steal in order to live.
Mr Locke of the Ragged School union called for more help in keeping the schools open.
He asked that the government give more thought to preventing crime rather than punishing the wrongdoers. He said the latter course only made the young criminals worse
.

(3) What did they achieve?
------------------------------
Locke detailed all the things achieved by the ragged schools and the difference it had made to the children who attended. He said the schools had been able to find employment for many of the children and they were taught to be careful with their money.
As well as learning to read and write they were also given moral guidance. Although so much was being done there was so much more to be done, Locke said they were certain that there were ‘thousands upon thousands [of children who] roam the streets unheeded and uncared for, to plunder and do mischief’.

(4 Industrial Schools
Industrial schools had two main objects, to instil in the children the habit of working and to develop the latent potential of the destitute child. One of the earliest attempts to start an Industrial feeding School, as they were at first called, was in Aberdeen in 1846.

What was their purpose?
----------------------------
Industrial Schools were intended to help those children who were destitute but who had not as yet committed any serious crime.
The idea was to remove the child from bad influences, give them an education and teach them a trade.
It was felt that although the ragged schools were fulfilling a need the provision they provided did not go far enough.

The children needed to be removed from the environment in which they had been living. Depending on the circumstances of the child they either attended the school daily or they were able to live in.

Daily Timetable
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The timetable was quite a strict one, the children rose at 6.00am and went to bed at 7.00pm.
During the day there were set times for schooling, learning trades, housework, religion in the form of family worship, meal times and there was also a short time for play three times a day.
The boys learned trades such as gardening, tailoring and shoemaking; the girls learned knitting, sewing, housework and washing.

The Industrial Schools Act.
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At first like the ragged schools the Industrial Schools were run on a voluntary basis. However in 1857 the Industrial Schools Act was passed.
This gave magistrates the power to sentence children between the ages of 7 and 14 years old to a spell in one of these institutions.
The act dealt with those children who were brought before the courts for vagrancy in other words for being homeless.
In 1861 a further act was passed and different categories of children were included:

Any child apparently under the age of fourteen found begging or receiving alms [money or goods given as charity to the poor].
Any child apparently under the age of fourteen found wandering and not having any home or visible means of support, or in company of reputed thieves.
Any child apparently under the age of twelve who, having committed an offence punishable by imprisonment or less.
Any child under the age of fourteen whose parents declare him to be beyond their control.(5)
The act stated the child had to be ‘apparently’ under the age of fourteen.
This was because children often lied about their age if it was advantageous for them to do so. Some children genuinely did not know how old they were. It was not until 1875 that it became compulsory to register births.

The cost of the Schools.
---------------------------
Parents were supposed to contribute to the cost of keeping a child in an Industrial School.
This often proved impossible to collect because most of the children were homeless.
The money had to be found from government sources. As time went on there was quite a lot of unease about the funding mainly because of the rapid expansion of the system. Some people thought it was too big a drain on the public purse. More and more magistrates preferred to send young offenders to the schools instead of prison. From 1870 the schools became the responsibility of the Committee of Education.

Reformatories.
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The children who were sent to reformatories were those who had come before the courts having committed more serious crimes.
They had usually been arrested many times. T
he clear distinction between Industrial Schools and Reformatories was that the children sent to Industrial schools were destitute and those sent to Reformatories were juvenile offenders.
As the 19th century neared its close people started to realise that all children deserved to receive an education.
All children needed care and protection especially those who had been given such a poor start in life and who had received little in the way of care and protection previously.

References.
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1. The Idea of Poverty by Gertrude Himmelfarb (p.379)
2. The Victorian Town Child by Pamela Horn (p.6)
. The Victorian Town Child by Pamela Horn (p.6)
3. The Times 24th November 1855 (page 4 col. f)
4. The Times 24th November 1855 (page 4 col. .f)
5. Fagin’s Children by Jeannie Duckworth (p.2
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The frequent abuse of the reformatory and industrial school system was a serious problem.

Children were sometimes sent to reformatories rather than industrial schools to prevent them from becoming chargeable to the local authorities.

The procedure before the courts in industrial schools cases was examined.

Archibald Campbell, Clerk to the Burgh Court in Edinburgh gave details of cases brought before the city magistrates.

These were often brought before the court by policemen and officers of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Applications for sending children to industrial schools were, however, also made by agents of these schools.

"It was thought that the "found wandering" and "not having proper guardianship" clauses in the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, were sometimes deliberately misinterpreted in order to fill the industrial schools."
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Last edited by Marie-Therese O' Loughlin (2007-01-21 09:19:03)

Child Abuse and Institutional Care.
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February 2, 2007.
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May we refer to the abstract dated 28th January 2007 “Child Abuse and Institutional Care in Historical Perspective” Published online by Cambridge University Press dated 21st December 2006 so that we can give some idea what life was really like for children in an Irish industrial school prior to the 1970s and how victims of institutional child abuse have fared since.

In his statement on the 11th May 1999, An Taoiseach; Mr. Bertie Ahern T.D. acknowledged that “too many of our children [in institutional care] were denied…love, care and security.

Abuse ruined their childhoods and has been an ever – present part of their lives, reminding them of a time when they were helpless.

I want to say to them that we believe that they were grossly wronged, and that we must do all we can to overcome the lasting effects of their ordeals”.

This has simply not happened.

We do not believe that under the present Redress Board process that all has been done to overcome the lasting effect of abuse in care.

We have a Redress Board composed of personal that have not the remotest idea of what an Industrial or Reformatory School was or is like.

We have a fast track method of redress in which the actual survivor never gets to present his/her case in reality and in the main is left with only a vague description as to what the solicitor presented or the Redress Board accepted as evidence as to his/her suffering.

In reality it isn’t easy to find work or housing due to the fact of not having any documents or records including medical records and an education from the Irish State and the Religious Orders.

It should be apparent that life in an institution did not prepare life for thousands of victims of institutional child abuse and the Redress Board members and the Ryan Commission do not fully understand what life is like for victims of institutional child abuse.

After reading the above mentioned statement dated 11th May 1999, it’s quite clear that the Redress Board and the Ryan Commission should be abolished immediately.

We have a Redress Board composed of personnel who haven’t got the slightest bit of intelligence in how to get their heads around the medical reports so they deliberately demoralize the reports so they can mark down the scores and award pittance.

It’s quite clear that the former Minister of Education & Science, Mr. Michael Woods T.D. claimed the awards made for abuse would parallel the substantial awards made in the High Court.

He recommended that the best guidance for the Government should be “by reference to the level of awards made by the Irish Courts for pain and suffering and loss of amenities arising from serious personal injury.”

It’s also quite clear that the present Minister for Education & Science, Ms. Mary Hanafin T.D. said “Members of the Oieachtas Committee on Education have been assured that awards by the Redress Board were in line of the High Court, and that it had an obligation to do this.

This has simply not happened.

By comparison with court awards for sexual abuse, the offers and handouts from the Redress Board have been derisory.

Dr. Michael Corry, founder of the institute of Psychosocial Medicine, said the Redress Board is one of the greatest abuses perpetrated against victims of sexual abuse in religious – run institutions and stated that his firm believe is that the Redress Board contravenes the most basic of human and civil rights.

In short it represents a crime against humanity.

It should be abolished immediately and replaced by an open forum where the victim is not only properly monetarily compensated, but where they can have their perpetrators named, and the scales of justice balanced.

Many Survivor support groups have received a number of complaints from victims of institutional child abuse claiming they have received reduced levels of compensation after waiving an initial award by the Redress Board.

It’s quite clear that we have Redress Board considered illegal outside Ireland.

Try to get any Solicitor representing victims of institutional child abuse to test its legality in court.

Many thousands of unfortunate children who were either abandoned as a child or taken away from their families were made defendants in an unconstitional court.

They were charged, sentenced and imprisoned contrary to Art. 10 UN Universal Declarations of Human Rights.

They were not given any proper hearing in court nor were they legally represented.

In order to facilitate the incarceration of the children, evidence inadmissible in a proper court was accepted.

The court never considered any alternative to imprisonment.

Thus, many children suffered long terms of false imprisonment in institutions in what are now termed as Irelands concentration camps for children.

The State and the Religious Orders attitude towards many families meant that an abandoned child or children taken away from their family was an "illegitimate" child, and was seen as a threat to Holy Ireland.

Therefore thousands of children suffered many years in institutions.

The State and the Religious Orders perceived a danger that these children would not become devout Catholics.

The solution was to incarcerate these children with the Religious Orders where they would be reared in "the fear and love of God.

This destruction of many families was in direct contravention of the letter and the spirit of the Irish Constitution.

In pursuance of an anti - family ideology.

Many children were deliberately marginalized, criminalized and incarcerated in industrial schools by the State.

They were made into social outcasts who could be abused with impunity.

There was no such thing as "compassionate leave."

Indeed, compassion was altogether absent in the treatment of many children and their families.

Many families that were broken decades ago remain broken to this day because neither the State nor the Religious Orders have provided the records to trace their families or relatives.

Having been disgraced as a criminal by the court.

Many children bore a social stigma that would render them vulnerable to abuse in detention and would handicap them socially for life.

Once the children were imprisoned, systematic measures were taken by the State and the Religious Orders to isolate the children from their families and from any outside contacts.

The State and the Religious Orders poisoned many of the children's family relationships by feeding the children malicious lies about their parents.

Many of the children's parents and their relatives were discouraged from visiting them.

All this had had the effect of rendering the children more vulnerable and malleable.

The policy was clearly intended to achieve total control.

Many children were isolated from other children and close friendships with other children were broken up.

Many children experienced a terrible loneliness even in the presence of other children.

This was clearly part of the perverse philosophy of the Religious Orders.

Many of the institutions were situated in isolated parts of the country where the children's parents and relatives would have found it impossible to visit them in the institutions.

Many parents and relatives found it impossible to visit their children in the institutions as their efforts were resisted and blocked by the State and the Religious Orders.

A recently discovered document is evidence that the State and the Religious Orders withheld information from parents and relatives of children in institutions.

The document states that they could get their children out of the institutions a lot sooner via an application form.

Many victims of institutional child abuse now suffer knowing that their parents and relatives would not have been told about the document.

Many victims of institutional child abuse can't remember the Religious Orders offering a greeting such as "good morning "or wishing them “happy birthday" or " happy christmas" or playing with any toys or reading any books as a child.

There was no such thing as praise for a task well done or any encouragement to self- expression.

The Religious Orders were highly abnormal and disturbed individuals and incapable of showing any natural love or affection.

Many victims of institutional child abuse spent the whole of their childhood in institutions without the experience of love and affection.

The exposure to constant fear and insecurity and the deprivation of normal personal relationships meant that many children developed unnatural emotional responses.

This was arrested development from which complete recovery rarely if ever occurs.

Many children showed the signs of emotional disturbance in crying and in bed - wetting and many children would be beaten for these expressions of suffering and unhappiness.

The Detention Order effectively made the children the property of the Religious Orders which then the children could be exploited for any purpose by the Religious Orders.

Many abused children were put to work at an early age and were largely engaged in full time slave labour in profit - making enterprises run by the Religious Orders.

This often exhausting slave labour was done at the expense of the children's education and they were beaten by the Religious Orders if they failed to perform.

Many children represented a unit of income and were also a unit of slave labour to the Religious Orders.

The Religious Orders was thus reluctant to let go of the children in the institutions.

The use of children as slaves also implied degradation and the use of time that the children should have spent in educational activity and not suffer as a slave.

Many survivors of institutional child abuse report that they had no privacy, and were accorded no private physical space or private property.

Many children slept in large open dormitories.

There was no privacy in the cold open bathrooms with the other children.

Clothing was shared and distributed at random after laundering which was old and bad fitting.

Many children were given no private mental space either and were subject to continuous indoctrination in religious dogma and expected to reveal their innermost being to the Religious Orders.

The control from anything outside the institution also served to isolate the children from their parents and their relatives and prevent the children reporting the abuse to anyone on the outside of the institution.

It has been learnt that the policy was very effective in this respect due to the fact that the Religious Orders knew they never taught any children to read and write.

The lack of education in detention as a child is well documented in the reports.

The provision of education for many child abuse victims was non existent in the institutions.

Many children left the institutions at the age of sixteen to twenty years old illiterate and innumerate.

Many victims of institutional child abuse report that there were no qualified teachers among the Religious Orders there was not even a library in the institutions.

Many children were in an appalling state of ignorance.

Many survivors of institutional child abuse had spent all their childhood in institutions and knew little or nothing about the outside world.

Many survivors of institutional child abuse were unsuited to any decent work except the most menial and low paid.

The Religious Orders must have viewed education as unnecessary and undesirable.

Education might have expanded the children's horizons and might have limited the children's usefulness as a child slave.

It might have led the children to question the appalling circumstances of their life and that would be counter to the total control philosophy of the Religious Orders.

Many survivors of institutional child abuse have no evidence that the Department of Education and Science and the Religious Orders showed any interest at all in their education and the few available documents to date make little or no reference to their education.

Lack of education meant that many survivors of child abuse were profoundly ignorant of themselves and the real world.

Many survivors of institutional child abuse had left institutions lacking any marketable skills and with extremely poor vocational prospects.

The poor educational achievements and lack of vocational training correlates strongly with low earning potential throughout their life.

The effects in relation to the lack of education are still with them today.

But many survivors of institutional child abuse are determined to educate themselves in learning to read and write.

The brutality and physical abuse is well documented in the reports.

The abuse was routine and could be ritual or casual.

It was constant in many children's life in the institutions it was a deliberate part of the reign of terror operated by the Religious Orders to establish total control in a closed world where abused children spent their lives into their late teens.

Many children witnessed acts of brutality on other children during incarceration.

Much of the abuse was performed in the open to humiliate the victim and terrorize the other children.

Because the children had nothing with which to compare an abnormal life, the children took this random and ritual violence as "normal".

But even though injured to brutality and violence, the children experienced constant fear.

Even today many victims of institutional child abuse suffer the effects of flashbacks to the violent incidents of abuse.

Many survivors of institutional child abuse experience of suffering a permanent state of starvation and malnutrition in institutions is evident in the former Education Medical Department Inspector Dr. Anna McCabe's reports.

Many survivors of institutional child abuse were familiar with it from an early age.

The deprivation of a diet that is adequate in quality and quantity in their childhood has profound effects on their development and continues to affect them throughout their life.

Both short - term and long - term effects are well known to nutritionists and the medical profession.

Deliberately depriving children of a proper diet is an egregious crime.

The effects of childhood malnutrition can never be undone in later life.

In conclusion, experts agree on the long - term effects of childhood malnutrition as follows: "The effects of early malnutrition are long lasting.

The capacity to learn is diminished, leading to reduced skills in reading, arithmetic and reasoning.

Women who were malnourished in early childhood become stunted adults, with narrow pelvic dimensions and at risk of having prolonged difficult deliveries, or even dying in childbirth.

Stunted mothers are more likely to deliver low birth weight newborns.

Other long - term effects in adults include reduced muscle mass, lower capacity for work and less earning potential".

From: Dr. Reynaldo Martorell, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of International Nutrition and Chair, Department of International Health, Emory University, 2001.

Many survivors of institutional child abuse suffer from the fact of having little or no evidence of their childhood medical records from the institutions in relation to their health and welfare and well being.

Regarding the sexual abuse of children in religious run institutions, this is well documented in reports.

Nevertheless, the State and the Religious Orders had a duty to understand what was happening to the abused - a duty which they neglected.

If the abuse of the past is not to be repeated it is essential the State and the Religious Orders face up to reality, however unpleasant it may be.

This will involve an analysis of the minds and the motivations of the perverts.

The use of children as objects for sexual gratification by members of the Religious Orders has been known about for centuries and should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Church history.

Abuse of this kind which happened to innocent children was possible because of the total unsupervised control in a closed world of so called Industrial Schools.

Sex education was absent in the institutions run by the Religious Orders.

It's quite clear that sex abuse with a pubescent child is expected to have long - term effects.

The experimentation with drugs on children in religious run institutions is also well documented in reports.

Many victims of institutional child abuse suffer severe emotional flashbacks arising from such abuses in their childhood and many victims find it difficult returning to Ireland even when returning for holidays due to the multiple personal and educational handicaps imposed on them.

Many victims of institutional child abuse have to reinvent their personal history to avoid discrimination due to not having their childhood records and family origins.

It is to their credit that despite their handicaps they are still trying to be independent and make a success of their life.

When one reads the European Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights including the Human Rights Committee terms of reference at the office of the Law Society of Ireland it soon becomes very clear why the Irish State and the Religious Orders and the Redress Board including the Ryan Commission are in breach of our human rights.

Albert King, on behalf of Mary King. (victim of institutional child abuse). Dated 28th January 2007.

Last edited by Marie-Therese O' Loughlin (2007-02-06 12:25:21)

Sister demands to be told why her tragic brother was locked in institutions for 57 years
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Sixty year old Christy Smith was buried yesterday after a life which can only be described as a tragedy.

In a life lived over six decades, Christy enjoyed fewer than three years of freedom - and these were spent living rough on the cold streets of Cork.

Now, his sister, Mary, who traced her brother 17 years ago, thanks to an appeal on the Gerry Ryan 2FM show, has demanded answers from the Government and health authorities over why her brother spent practically his entire life in psychiatric care.

His institutional childhood was divided between mother-and-babies homes and brutal industrial schools. "My brother's life was stolen from him - he never had a chance," Mary said last night.

"He never had any quality of life - in fact, his life was destroyed before it had even started," she said. Mary - who now lives in Dublin - is particularly concerned over why Christy was placed in psychiatric care in 1966 and why no specific details, as were then required under the Mental Health Act, were recorded about his psychiatric condition.

Committal Similarly, she had never been able to trace the committal form for her brother.

Mary raised the matter two years ago with Health Minister Mary Harney and the Health Service Executive were asked to review the case. She wrote to more than 30 TDs to raise her brother's plight - and even wrote to Ulster MEP Ian Paisley. But Christy died on Friday - after never having been released from care except for a brief period in a West Cork hostel.

Last night, the HSE stressed that it does not comment on individual cases as a matter of policy.

The HSE also stressed that it is fully committed to a community-focused mental healthcare system. Sadly, for Christy Smith it is now too late.

Christy was born in a Cork mother-and-babies home to a 14-year-old girl in 1946. When his mother gave birth to a second child - a daughter - five years later she was sent to a psychiatric hospital where she spent her remaining 14 years, dying at just 32.

She was ultimately buried in a pauper's plot in 1964, just two years before Christy was committed. At five years of age, Christy was to begin a tough existence in industrial schools.

He was beaten, traumatised and treated with shocking neglect. Boys at one of the schools he was sent to often had to forage with pigs for food during the winter months.

Cork mental health campaigner and Cork North Central general election candidate, John McCarthy, said Christy's tragic story highlights the terrible stigma which is attached to mental illness in Ireland.

"I have never come across a more heart-breaking story than that of Christy Smith.

This awful story perfectly highlights the terrible treatment of people with mental health problems," he said. At 17 years, Christy was sent to work for a farmer in North Cork - and was locked into a shed at night with the animals.

Nine months later, he ran away only to spend two years living rough on the streets of Cork. In 1966, he was brought by gardai to a Cork psychiatric hospital for treatment as a temporary patient.

But he was never again to leave a psychiatric institution alive. Christy died on February 16 last - and was buried yesterday at St Mary's Cemetery, Curraghkippane, Cork, close by the pauper's plot where his mother lies.................. Ralph Riegel

Irish Independent http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/
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Last edited by Marie-Therese O' Loughlin (2007-02-20 13:17:27)

Those Who Trespass Against Us.
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March 20, 2007

I have cut and pasted the information below from the publishers site.

It is a great but sad, story based on the life of Walter O'Keeffe, who grew up in Greenmont Industrial School and was abused.

He settled his claim with the Redress Board. This book may serve as a great resource.

The publishers site is: http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=18214

Rob Eison

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Those Who Trespass Against Us: Based on the Life of Walter O'Keeffe

by Toni O'Keeffe
===========

248 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-2214; ISBN 1-4251-0457-6; US$21.70, C$24.95, EUR17.82, £12.48

A disturbing look at the suffering of one small orphaned, Irish boy and the abuse he endured between 1939-1948, when the Irish legal system and the church had gone mad with regard to the care of children.


About the Book
===========

Those Who Trespass Against Us is a vivid, disturbing look at the life and suffering of one small, orphaned, Irish boy.

This is a heart-wrenching tale based on the life of Walter O'Keeffe, between, 1939-1948 in Ireland, as he struggles to survive the inhumane treatment imposed on him by those charged with his care.

This is a tragic, personal account of lost love and abuse at a time when the Irish legal system had gone mad with regard to the care of children.

Through-out the book a sharp picture is painted of the horrific conditions in Ireland's Industrial Schools, in particular, Greenmont Industrial School in Cork where the Presentation Brothers starved, beat, preyed upon, and abused the children in their care.

During his years of abuse, Walter's happy memories of his early life with his parents in Polrone Ireland, and of his childhood sweetheart, Josie, provide him with hope and a place to escape the harsh realities of his dreadful existence.

On May 11, 1999, the Government of Ireland apologized on behalf of the State to the victims of abuse in Ireland's industrial schools.

For many, like Walter, the apology came to late, his life had already been grossly affected and negatively shaped by the horrors of being separated from his family and growing up in Greenmont.

Other stories relate the suffering of Ireland's children, and while they are all horrible, no other so brilliantly describes a personal account of the severe conditions children were exposed to during this shameful period of Irish history.

Walters story also exposes the lasting impact living in these conditions continued to have on individuals' even years after they left the chambers of horrors in which they were forced to live.

About the Author
============

Toni O'Keeffe grew up in Vancouver BC and is the second eldest child of Walter and Monica O'Keeffe. O'Keeffe has been a professional business writer and communicator for over twenty years.

She has now put her creative talent to work to carry out a promise she made to her father when she was only five years old, a promise that she would one day tell his story.

O'Keeffe has two grown sons Ryan and Korey. She lives with her husband Robert in Parksville BC. She currently works as a Director for Malaspina University-College on Vancouver Island. Walter O'Keeffe and his Author daughter Toni.

Last edited by Marie-Therese O' Loughlin (2007-03-23 07:17:29)

Sisters of Mercy break rank
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Irish Times:Date: Thu May 6, 2004
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Yesterday's statement by the Sisters of Mercy is an event of considerable national and even international importance.

It is without precedent on any continent where children have been abused in Catholic Church-run institutions, writes Mary Raftery

What makes it so significant is that the Mercy nuns have broken ranks.

They have finally stopped blaming others (the State, society) for the abuse of children in their industrial schools, and have themselves taken full responsibility for the damage they caused to the thousands of children who grew up in their care.

Crucially, they have stated directly to victims that they believe them when they tell of the "physical and emotional trauma" they suffered as children.

This issue of belief has been central to the concerns of many of the survivors of abuse at industrial schools.

They have felt with great justification that while conditional apologies have been made by many of the religious orders involved, these nuns and brothers still do not really believe them and their experiences of abuse.

Yesterday's unequivocal statement from the Mercy nuns is the first crumbling of the hard line that the religious orders have adopted towards victims.

Inevitably, the unconditional nature of the Mercy apology will beg important questions of the other 17 congregations who ran industrial schools in Ireland.

As by far the largest provider of such institutions, it is fitting that the Mercy nuns should provide the lead.

The question is whether any of the others will have the moral fibre to follow.

"We do not know what any other congregation needs to do," Sister Breege O'Neill, the head of the congregation's leadership team, told me when we met on Tuesday in advance of her press conference yesterday.

"This is about our journey, our own need to reclaim our integrity, to be faithful to our calling and to reach out to people in need. We have to realise that compassion has to become more important than litigation.

Our greatest distress is that we have caused such distress to so many people both now and in the past."

It is possible to take a cynical approach to the nuns' new apology, to argue that it is easy for them to confess now that they have secured a legal indemnity from the State.

"I have no answer to that," Sister Breege says, "except to say that we're not doing this because of the church/State deal.

We've been involved in a reflective process around this crisis for a number of years. We've been looking at every aspect of ourselves, our training and formation, our history, and this statement is the result of that process.

Our greatest difficulty has always been to admit we got it wrong. And the truth is that the indemnity deal has not brought us any nearer to closure on the issue."

There is a possible analogy here with the South African truth and reconciliation process.

The public confessions by perpetrators of human rights abuses could only occur there in the context of the amnesty which they were promised.

In this country, it could be argued that State indemnity is the equivalent of that amnesty, that it may allow all the congregations the space to take full responsibility for their crimes against children.


It is clear that the criminal justice system has failed in this regard, and both the Redress Board and the Ryan (formerly Laffoy) Commission remain embroiled in controversy. Perhaps the Mercy nuns have shown the first real step towards some kind of a healing process for the victims of abuse.

Speaking of the notorious church/State deal, Sister Breege O'Neill is adamant that it will not be renegotiated.

However, she does say that the nuns will do anything necessary to bring about healing for the victims, and doesn't rule out the allocation of additional resources by the congregation in this process.

Their new apology also does not mean that they now accept each and every allegation made against them.

That a number of their members vigorously protest their innocence was for a long time the single biggest stumbling block on the way to making yesterday's statement.

But, it is highly significant that their statement contains no reference to false allegations.

"We will uphold the right of our sisters to due process," says Sister Breege. "At the same time, our hope is that this apology will change everything in the long term.

We have now taken full and unconditional responsibility for our failures and we must focus on people's need to be heard and to be believed.

And we do believe them.

Their experience is what is important. We want to hear them and do anything in our power to ease their pain."

I have in the past been a strong critic of the Mercy congregation.

However, I now believe it is finally beginning to grapple with the appalling truth of the thousands of lives which it destroyed in its institutions.

It is a process which may well split the Mercy nuns down the middle.

What is now clear, however, is that their leadership believes that it is only by confronting this truth that both the nuns and their victims can have any chance of being set free.

© The Irish Times

Last edited by Marie-Therese O' Loughlin (2007-03-12 08:45:38)