Spiritans-run school reassures parents of 'comprehensive' policies to protect students

The principal of Templeogue College in south Dublin messaged parents in the wake of the documentary citing the abuse of pupils at Blackrock College.

A Dublin school run by the Spiritans order has contacted parents to reassure them of the “comprehensive” policies it has in place to protect students.

The principal of Templeogue College in south Dublin messaged parents at 9am on Wednesday morning in the wake of the broadcast of an RTÉ documentary citing the abuse of pupils at Blackrock College, also run by the Spiritans, in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Over the past few days, you may have listened to or heard about a documentary that was aired on RTÉ Radio 1 and discussed on Prime Time about historical cases of abuse in some of our sister Spiritan schools or you may have read about cases and allegations in the papers,” the principal, Niamh Quinn, wrote.

She said she was writing “to assure you that we have a comprehensive set of policies and procedures in place to protect the students in our care”.

Child protection procedures

Ms Quinn said that the most recent inspection of the school had “commended” its child protection procedures, adding that those procedures are reviewed each year by the school’s board of management.

“Our prayers are with all survivors of abuse,” she said, while further appealing for any parents with concerns regarding the matter to contact the school.

Templeogue College had not responded to a request for comment regarding this matter at the time of publication.

At present roughly 300 people have reported abuse, dating from the 1960s through to the mid-1990s, in Spiritan schools and parishes and overseas, a figure that has risen by about 70 since the RTE documentary first aired.

Not all of those 70 contacts involved allegations, a spokesperson for the Spiritan order said.

One or more allegations have now been made against 78 different Spiritans, four of whom are still alive.

The Spiritans said they could not as yet provide a “dependable” breakdown of the abuse allegations by location or by individual school.

Garda appeal

Earlier this week the gardaí issued an appeal for anyone who wished to report a crime relating to the Spiritans order to contact them.

The force confirmed at the time that over the previous seven days its sexual crime management unit had received six contacts from individuals.

“Further engagement will take place with these six persons to assess their individual case and they will be fully supported,” a spokesperson said.

The Taoiseach has previously called for a “bespoke” investigation into the allegations of abuse at the schools in question.

“The mode and manner in which we go about this are important,” he said. “We need to learn lessons from previous inquiries,” he said.

At a press conference on Wednesday attended by representatives of the Spiritan Congregation and victims groups, the order said it is willing to take part in an independent inquiry into the abuse and its handling of it.

The survivors said whatever happens next must respect the victims and put them at the heart of the decision-making.

The leader of the Spiritans in Ireland Fr Martin Kelly meanwhile issued an apology to all victims on behalf of the order, expressing his “deepest and most sincere sorrow” regarding the historical abuse.