Blackrock College survivor: 'A fifth of 1979 class came forward to report abuse'

Pictured in the RDS on Wednesday (l to r) John Coulter, Corry McMahon and Louis Hoffman, with Philip Feddis joining via phone from Brazil, at a joint news briefing with the Spiritans in Ireland, where they announced a restorative justice process. Picture: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

John Coulter, a member of the survivors’ group from Blackrock College and Willow Park, said that around 21% of the Leaving Cert class of 1979 came forward to a Facebook group to report they’d been abused.

Sitting alongside him, former classmate Louis Hoffman said he’d set up the Facebook page called Blackrock/Spiritans: Time to say sorry.