Department ‘acknowledges’ industrial school care failures

THE Department of Education has admitted it failed to ensure there was an adequate level of care for children in industrial schools over many decades.

The department’s secretary-general, Brigid McManus, also told the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse some industrial schools were not inspected for years and in 1975 no school whatsoever was inspected.

The infamous Artane School in Dublin was not inspected for three years during the 1950s.

Generally, the way in which complaints were handled was also unsatisfactory, with many not recorded or treated as insignificant.

There was no system for assessing the seriousness of complaints made by parents of children, and the department generally did not interview parents or children who made complaints.

Explanations given by resident managers of industrial schools in response to complaints were often accepted without department officials making any other enquiries.

“There is also evidence indicating that the department may have been inclined to treat complaints about physical punishment with a degree of scepticism,” said Ms McManus.

She said the department “acknowledges fully that there were failures”, but it was “very difficult for us to identify why those failures occurred”.

She said the department “deeply regrets” its failure to provide adequate care. But she said files showed its inspectors brought about improvements in the quality of residential care. She said that before the appointment of a childcare adviser in 1976, inspections focussed on the material and physical aspects of schools.

While there was resistance from religious orders to attempts by the State to control how they ran industrial schools, Ms McManus said she did not believe there was a lack of willingness by resident managers to co-operate with the department.

She also said the State’s under-funding of industrial schools through capitation fees was a valid criticism.

She accepted criticism of shortcomings in the industrial training of pupils but said it was not possible for documentation to give a full picture of what was happening at the time. She said it was not possible for officials now “to put themselves in the shoes” of their predecessors or to make judgements on any actions or lack of action they had taken.