‘Starving boys lived in filth and were constantly abused’

BOYS in a Co Cork industrial school lived in filth and freezing conditions, were starved of food and suffered constant severe physical and occasional sexual violence.

Yet the Department of Education deliberately found extra boys to send to the Baltimore school, often from other homes closer to their relatives, after its manager complained he needed more pupils to increase his capitation grant.

The school catered for up to 170 children at a time from 1936 to its closure in 1950, and 21 former pupils gave evidence to the commission in what is to date the only complete investigation it has carried out.