Only 21 industrial school survivors seek ‘non-criminal’ certs

Only 21 survivors of the country’s industrial schools have availed of the Department of Justice offer to provide them with certificates clarifying that they do not have a criminal record.

Up to 1,500 survivors are still alive and many have spoken of the inferiority complex they hold as they believed they were branded criminals by the courts system that placed them in the homes — often due to poverty or parental neglect.

Submissions to the Ryan Commission spoke of anger at having “a criminal record” as a result of attending the school.