Written answers

Tuesday, 24 April 2007

Department of Education and Science

Departmental Records

11:00 pm

Photo of Michael NoonanMichael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 813: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will assist a person (details supplied) in County Limerick in acquiring records of their stay and the stay of their siblings at an institute in Limerick under the supervision of her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14277/07]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department maintains records on former residents of Industrial and Reformatory Schools who were placed there by way of a Court Order. Many children were placed in the schools by alternative means such as Health Board referrals and voluntary placements and, in such cases, my Department generally does not hold any records.

Officials of my Department have received and processed requests under the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003 on behalf of a number of the family members referred to by the Deputy. Department officials conducted a thorough and detailed search of archival material but were unable to locate any record of the family members' being placed or resident in the Industrial School in question. In responding to these requests, the Department advised the persons in question via their legal representatives that no records were located following a detailed search of the Department's file records and that this would suggest that they may have been placed in the school other than through the Courts.

It is the Department's policy to provide as much assistance as possible to those seeking access to records of their stay in industrial schools and, where possible, to identify alternative sources for such records. In this regard, the Department advised the persons in question to pursue the matter with the Sisters of Mercy, who managed the particular institution, and contact details for the order were provided — that is, Mercy Congregational Archives, Catherine McAuley Centre, 23 Herbert Street, Dublin 2. It was also recommended that contact be made with the regional office of the health services in the area where the family were resident at the time of their placement in the school to ascertain if that office held any relevant records in this regard.

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