Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I wish to acknowledge at the outset the direct engagement of the Taoiseach's office with me and others in the preparation of the motion before the House for debate today and tomorrow. An agreed all-party motion was the only way for this House to address this most serious of reports and the recommendations contained therein.

I want to begin by reading into the Dáil record the text of the petition presented yesterday by thousands of people who marched to Leinster House, victims and survivors of abuse, and members of the public who stood in solidarity with them. It states: "We the people of Ireland join in solidarity and call for Justice, Accountability, Restitution and Repatriation for the unimaginable crimes committed against the children of our country by religious orders in 216 and more Institutions".

The Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse is probably the greatest ever indictment of the powerful and the privileged in church and State in Ireland. Religious orders, the Catholic Church hierarchy, successive Governments and the Department of Education stand indicted for the torture and murder of children and for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The crimes were compounded by the cover-ups, and it has taken the survivors many long and painful years to expose the truth and to achieve the recognition they deserve.

The lives of children were destroyed in institutions run mainly by Catholic religious orders. The crimes included general neglect, deprivation of adequate food and clothing, denial of the right to education, forced labour for the profit of the institutions, emotional and physical abuse, sexual assault and murder. The survivors were left with a lifelong legacy of physical and psychological damage that condemned many of them to early graves and that tortures the survivors to this day.

This was a regime of fear that ruled on the dark side of Irish society for most of the 20th century. Due to the courage of the survivors in speaking out, we have known for a long time of the horror of what went on in these institutions but the report of the commission gives, for the first time, a widespread view of the full extent of that regime based, as the report is, on the direct testimony of the victims.

The confidential committee of the commission heard evidence from 1,090 men and women who reported being abused as children in these institutions. Abuse was reported to the committee regarding 216 school and residential settings including industrial and reformatory schools, children's homes, hospitals, national and secondary schools, day and residential special needs schools, foster care and a small number of other residential institutions, including laundries and hostels. A total of 791 witnesses reported abuse in industrial and reformatory schools and 259 witnesses reported abuse in a range of other institutions.

More than 90% of witnesses who spoke to the commission reported that they had been physically abused. They were beaten, kicked, flogged, scalded with hot water, held under water and burned. Many beatings were carried out in public in order to humiliate. Physical assaults were often carried out randomly and without pretext, creating a terror in children who never knew when they might be assaulted.

Half of the witnesses reported being sexually abused. On this key point the report states:

The secret nature of sexual abuse was repeatedly emphasised as facilitating its occurrence. Witnesses reported being sexually abused by religious and lay staff in the schools and institutions and by co-residents and others, including professionals, both within and external to the institutions. They also reported being sexually abused by members of the general public, including volunteer workers, visitors, work placement employers, foster parents, and others who had unsupervised contact with residents in the course of everyday activities.

Witnesses reported being sexually abused when they were taken away for excursions, holidays or to work for others. Some witnesses who disclosed sexual abuse were subjected to severe reproach by those who had responsibility for their care and protection. Female witnesses in particular described, at times, being told they were responsible for the sexual abuse they experienced, by both their abuser and those to whom they disclosed abuse.

The report is damning in the extreme of the role of the Department of Education. It was charged with ultimate responsibility for the children. It carried out too few inspections, was aware that abuse was taking place but did little or nothing about it and, in the words of the report, the Department "made no attempt to impose changes that would have improved the lot of the detained children. Indeed, it never thought about changing the system".

The Department's Secretary General, at a public hearing, told the investigation committee that the Department had shown a "very significant deference" towards the religious congregations.

The State, in the form of the Department, and the religious orders were in fact working hand in glove in this system of terror. Out of taxpayers' money the Department paid a capitation grant to these institutions for each child they detained within their walls. This created a strong incentive for the orders to push for more children to be put in their so-called "care". The larger institutions in particular could thus accumulate large sums of money which were spent on enriching the orders who ran them rather than improving the lot of the children whom they held in their virtual prisons.

Who were these children? They were predominantly the children of the poor. As their parent or parents or other family members were deemed not to be able to look after them, the children were effectively incarcerated by the courts. The State abdicated its responsibility to the children and handed them over to the religious orders.

This was a society where women and children were second-class citizens. Absolute power was in the hands of men in authority and absolute power corrupted absolutely.

This was also a conspiracy of the powerful against the powerless. People were afraid to speak out because to defy the church was to face social death, and the poor were the least well equipped to stand up to the church.

In May of last year, I raised as a matter on the Adjournment the case of the late Michael Flanagan, whose arm was broken by a Christian Brother in Artane Industrial School in 1954. His brother Kevin is still fighting for full information about what exactly took place and why, in particular, their mother was not allowed to see her son until eight days after the assault was inflicted. This was an horrific example of what went on in those institutions. Michael Flanagan was only 14 years of age. A Christian Brother used a brush handle to break his arm. The boy was locked in a shed at the back of the school for two and a half days. The Christian Brother responsible was not prosecuted or expelled from the order. The order admitted to the commission in 2005 that this criminal had simply been moved from Artane to another school. After release from Artane, Michael Flanagan emigrated to England. He was unable to read or write because Artane was but a school in name only. His health never recovered from Artane and he died aged 59 years. His brother Kevin was asked by the commission to seek the information from them through a solicitor. This he did but he has not yet received the information he requests. These issues still need to be resolved.

I draw the attention of the Taoiseach, the Minister of State and the House to the fact that last May was not the first time the fate of Michael Flanagan was raised on the Adjournment. As the record of the House shows, it was raised by the former independent, Deputy Peadar Cowan, previously of Clann na Poblachta, on 23 April 1954, some days after the assault occurred. It is very instructive to read the exchange between Deputy Cowan and the then Minister for Education, Mr. Seán Moylan. Deputy Cowan seemed genuinely shocked and surprised that such an incident should have taken place. He stated he had been a subscriber to the funds of Artane and that he had seen the boys, "week after week passing my house, looking exceptionally fit, well clothed and happy". He further stated he was satisfied that this was an isolated incident.

The official reply was delivered by the then Minister for Education, Mr. Seán Moylan. It is an extraordinary exhibition of the wilful blindness of the Minister and his Department in the face of the crimes being committed against children for whom they were responsible. Taking up Mr. Cowan's description, the then Minister went further and said this was an isolated incident and "in one sense what might be called an accident". Let us remember this was a 14 year old boy having his arm broken by a Christian Brother wielding the handle of a sweeping brush. The Minister continued to describe the assault as an accident and said accidents will happen "in the best regulated families". Then comes the most extraordinary statement which speaks volumes, "I cannot conceive any deliberate ill-treatment of boys by a community motivated by the ideals of its founder. I cannot conceive any sadism emanating from men who were trained to a life of sacrifice and of austerity". The Minister also attempted to excuse the assault by saying that many of the boys were sent to Artane "because of the difficulties of their character and because of a good deal of unruliness of conduct".

The Ryan report covers the case of Michael Flanagan and found that the congregation falsely claimed that the Brother responsible for the assault had been transferred from Artane as a result of the complaint and their investigation of it. The fact is that the Brother in question had requested to be transferred. The report says the action of the Brothers suggests there was a policy of concealing damaging information. The infirmary record wrongly described the injury to the boy's arm as a result of an accident, a chilling echo of what was stated in 1954 in the Dáil by the Minister for Education of the day. That Minister also claimed there was a constant system of inspection of such institutions and that "nothing of the like will happen again". Let that be a wake up call to the House today.

The Ryan report has confirmed what was known for a long time, that the inspections were too few and too limited in scope. It concludes, most damningly, that Department of Education officials were aware that abuse occurred in the schools, that the education was inadequate and that the industrial training was out-dated. As a result the Minister's promise of 1954 that it would never happen again was broken day and night for many more years afterwards in institutions throughout the State and, heaven knows, is likely continuing in 2009.

See this speech in context