‘I knew it was being strangled’
The officials were courteous but even before last week's resignation of Judge Laffoy, he felt the investigation was getting nowhere.
"Everything seemed to be stretched out and I knew there were people strangling the investigation," he said.
Mr Morrison, 62, spent five years in St Patrick's Industrial School in Upton, Co Cork, which was run by the Rosminian Order. His parents had split up and his grandmother, who had cancer, was no longer able to look after him. She falsely signed a form, saying that he had been mistreated at home in order to get him into St Patrick's.
His brother Richard was also admitted and his sister was sent to a convent in Liverpool. He never saw her again and lost contact with Richard after 1968. However, flowers were recently placed on his grandparents' grave in Fermoy and he believes his brother is still alive.
He talks without bitterness of his experiences but he remembers clearly the fear and the physical, mental and sexual abuse in St Patrick's.
When a chap from Dublin would run away they were a bit cuter than us boys from the country gardaí would bring him back and throw him in the door. The Brothers would beat him unmercifully and I'd see them taking off their jackets and collars to get into the job more."
Mr Morrison left the school in 1957, aged 16, with some money, a suit and a train ticket. He joined the Irish Army and served in the Congo as an infantryman for a year. He then moved to England and spent 32 years working with the Ford Motor Company. He has now returned to live in Mitchelstown.
"The present Education Minister is attempting to wash his hands of the suffering that I and countless others have endured. When her sits at his desk, will he and his cohorts protect their political nest egg or give us the victims justice?" he said.
Last year, gardaí sent almost 100 files to the Director of Public Prosecutions following complaints from former pupils at Upton.
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