Former pupils of Spiritan schools largest grouping to engage with report into historic sexual abuse

David Ryan, left, and his brother Mark on the Late Late Show in 2022. Picture: RTÉ

Former pupils of Spiritan-run schools make up the largest grouping of respondents to the report on historical sexual abuse at religious schools.

"This is likely attributable to the efforts of Mark and David Ryan in encouraging former pupils of Spiritan schools to participate in the scoping inquiry," the reports notes.

Blackrock College in south Dublin, where David and Mark Ryan were repeatedly sexually abused at various locations on the school grounds during the 1970s. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins 

From the ages of 12 to 17, David and Mark were repeatedly sexually abused at various locations on the grounds of Blackrock College in south Dublin in the 1970s.

Their abusers were from the community of the Holy Ghost Order, now known as Spiritans.

A breakdown of the religious orders with the highest numbers of allegations in their schools, excluding those that ran special schools are:

• The Christian Brothers: 820 allegations in 132 schools. They provided information that 16 members and former members of the order had been convicted of child sexual abuse, five lay staff had been convicted of child sexual abuse, and one member of the clergy associated with the school but not a Christian Brother had been convicted;
• The Spiritans: 329 allegations in six schools. Of the 61 alleged abusers in the Spiritans' records, 80% were members of the order and 20% were lay staff. One member of the order and one lay member of staff have been convicted of child sexual abuse;
• The Jesuits: 126 allegations in eight schools. Of 32 alleged abusers, 78% were members of the order, 13% were lay staff and 9% were peers of the complainant;
• The Carmelite Fathers: 100 allegations in two schools. Of the 14 alleged abusers, 64% were member of the order and 36% were lay staff. Two lay people associated with the schools have been convicted of child sexual abuse;
• The De La Salle Brothers: 84 allegations in 29 schools. Almost 90% of the allegations involved members of the Brothers, 7% were lay members of staff and 4% involved a cleric who was not a member of the religious order.

A higher number of allegations were received in respect of special schools likely due to the fact these children were more vulnerable.

Special schools

A total of 528 allegations and 190 alleged abusers in the report relate to special schools.

The alleged abusers in these schools were mostly members of a religious order (39%). A large percentage of abusers recorded were pupils (28%), followed closely by lay staff (26%) and then 7% involved another cleric but one who was not a member of the order.

In another departure from the figures received for mainstream schools, the majority of alleged abusers are considered to be living or status unknown. Just 27% are recorded as deceased.

The report noted the figures published should not be taken to be the entirety of the allegations that may exist in respect of an individual order or school. It also said an order's inclusion of an allegation should not be read as an acceptance the abuse alleged took place.

When looking at all religious order-run mainstream schools, allegations primarily related to members of the religious order at almost 70%. Lay members of staff accounted for 17% of allegations followed by pupils (9%) and clergy (5%).

Female order-run schools

A similar breakdown was found in male order-run schools, while in female order-run schools the categories of alleged abusers is more evenly spread across the four categories.

In these schools, pupils made up the largest portion of alleged abusers (34%) followed by lay staff members (30%), clergy (22%) and religious order members (14%).

The majority of allegations of historical sexual abuse were in male religious order schools, accounting for 2,217 allegations, compared to 158 in female run schools.

Just 46% of alleged abusers identified by the report are recorded as living or their status unknown, but it notes it "seems reasonably likely" a number of these may also be deceased.

The information received indicated there were cases where alleged abusers moved between schools.

In community schools where a religious order was co-patron, the information received in the questionnaire showed the majority of alleged abusers (48%) were pupils while 19% were clergy and 5% were members of a religious order.