Industrial Schools in Ireland

Industrial Schools (Irish: Scoileanna Saothair) were established in Ireland under the Industrial Schools Act of 1868 to care for "neglected, orphaned and abandoned children". By 1884, there were 5,049 children in such institutions throughout the country.^[1]

Former Industrial and Reformatory Schools in the Republic of Ireland are now officially referred to as Children Detention Schools. There are five such institutions in the State.^[2] The equivalent institution in Northern Ireland is the Juvenile Justice Centre at Rathgael, near Bangor. It is now Northern Ireland's only children's detention centre following the closure of St Patrick's in Belfast and Lisnevin in Millisle (formerly known as Training Schools).^[3]

History

The first Industrial School in Ireland was set up by Lady Louisa Conolly in Celbridge,^[4] Co. Kildare, where young boys learnt woodwork and shoe making skills as well as other trade skills.^[5]

Establishment of reformatories and Industrial Schools

Reformatory Schools had been established in 1858 under a Poor Law amendment.^[6] Ten years later Industrial Schools were introduced by the Industrial Schools (Ireland) Act of 1868, four years after the equivalent in England. An 'upgraded' Reformatory Act was also introduced that year.^[7] Ironically, children charged with begging could not benefit under the terms of the original 1858 Act and were still being sent to adult prisons while young burglars were being sent to the more benign 'special school'. Over the next few decades there was a building boom to provide new premises for both types of institution. Reformatories were intended for children found guilty of criminal offences, while Industrial Schools were for orphaned neglected and abandoned children and those considered in danger of contact with criminality. This latter category had previously been accommodated in so called 'Ragged Schools (such as the one at the Coombe in Dublin),^[8] and in the countrywide network of Workhouses. Many private philanthropic schools were granted certificates as Reformatories or Industrial Schools for the reception of children committed by the courts. After certification they became eligible for grants from public money in proportion to the number of children catered for. Although Reformatory Schools were established first, Industrial Schools soon surpassed them, both in numbers of schools and of pupils. Between 1851 and 1858, ten Reformatories (five each for boys and girls) were certified. The 1868 Act insured that Protestant and Catholic children would be catered for separately, preventing proselytising.

1898 saw Industrial Schools reach 71 (the highest number of them) of the 61 which are in what is now the Republic of Ireland, 56 schools were Catholic run and five were Protestant run, of the 10 in what is now Northern Ireland 6 were Catholic run and 4 Protestant run. Of the 9 Protestant Industrial Schools in Ireland 5 were for girls and 4 for boys.

By 1900, only seven of the ten original Reformatories remained. In 1917 the last Industrial School run by the Church of Ireland (Anglican) was closed in Stillorgan. A number of the reformatories were recertified as Industrial Schools so that by 1922, only five remained (one of which was a Reformatory for boys in Northern Ireland).

Statistics

The reformatory school population, which was nearly 800 immediately after the passing of the 1858 Act, fell to 300 in 1882, and to 150 in 1900. However, by 1875, there were 50 industrial schools, and the highest number of industrial schools was reached in 1898, when there were a total of 71 schools, of which 61 (56 schools for Catholics and five for Protestants) were in the 26 counties.

The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in Ireland

The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was established in 2000 with functions including the investigation of abuse of children in institutions in the State. It was dependent on people giving evidence which they did in large numbers.

The conclusion of the report, issued in May 2009, was that over a period going back at least to the 1940s, many children in Industrial Schools in the Republic, had been subjected to systematic and sustained physical, sexual and emotional abuse. It also found that the perpetrators of this violence had been protected by their religious superiors, primarily out of self-interest to maintain the reputations of the institutions concerned.

Vaccine trials

It had been the intention of the Commission to investigate vaccine trials in some Industrial Schools. However, following a ruling by the High Court, this work was suspended in 2003 and never re-commenced.^[9]

"A rather dangerous experiment"

Richard Robert Cherry, a future Chief Justice of Ireland, speaking in 1911 was of the opinion that:

It is impossible to exaggerate the good effect (of).... this twin system of Reformatory and Industrial Schools. The latter have been particularly successful in Ireland; and the combination of voluntary effort and private management, with State regulation and partial support—a rather dangerous experiment—has been completely justified by the result.^[10]

In light of the findings in the Ryan report almost one hundred years later, his assessment of the 'experiment' was apparently premature.