Nuns to deny most serious child abuse allegations

The head of the Sisters of Mercy has told the Commission to Inquiry into Child Abuse that individual nuns would deny the most serious abuse allegations them.

Sr Brid O’Neill said the order had questioned all nuns who worked with children in industrial schools and asked them about their recollections of the time.

She said the nuns felt they did well under difficult circumstances, but acknowledged that conditions at industrial schools in the 1940s and 1950s were harsh and not conducive to the emotional well-being of children.

Sr O’Neill said there was no evidence in the Sisters of Mercy’s records of systematic physical or psychological abuse of children.