Public hearings into abuse at girls’ school
Chairman of the Commission Mr Justice Seán Ryan has announced that a new module of the inquiry, which first began its work in May 1999, will examine allegations of child abuse at Our Lady of Succour Industrial School in Newtownforbes, Co Longford.
The hearings are due to start on January 11 next when evidence will be given by representatives of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, the religious order which operated the school for over 100 years until its closure in 1969.
The vast majority of girls at Newtownforbes were committed by the courts, with others placed there by local authorities, although the school also accepted voluntary admissions.
In particular, the Commission will concern its investigations with allegations of abuse between the dates 1939 to 1969. The total number of girls who resided at Newtownforbes during this period exceeded 350.
The Commission has received six individual complaints from former residents of the industrial school against members of the Sisters of Mercy. The oldest woman to have made a claim of child abuse at Newtownforbes is aged 72.
Another former resident has also made allegations of abuse against staff at two other industrial schools which she attended.
The complainants have made allegations against 12 individuals who held various positions at Newtownforbes over a 26-year period. All but three of the dozen people accused of abuse are dead. The oldest of the surviving members of former staff at the industrial school against whom allegations have been made is now aged 94. All three of the alleged surviving abusers were members of the Sisters of Mercy order, although one is no longer a nun.
Meanwhile, the Commission has already gathered over 30,000 pages of documents relating to the industrial school including material held by the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Dr Colm O’Reilly.
In February 2003, the Commission was criticised by a number of groups representing survivors after it issued a public advertisement seeking to make contact with people who had a “positive experience” at Newtownforbes.
The Aislinn organisation accused the Commission of inviting evidence from people who were “treated as pets” in industrial schools. It subsequently emerged that twice as many former pupils of the school who had negative experiences at Newtownforbes contacted the inquiry compared to those who wished to relate a more happy recount of their time in the institution.
The public hearings of the Newtownforbes module are scheduled to last two days, after which the Commission will hear evidence from alleged victims in private.
