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Abuse suffered at Brothers of Charity school once described as ‘little short of permanent crucifixion’

Brothers of Charity failed in their duty of care to vulnerable and at-risk children at its school at Lota in Cork, report finds

Brother Ambrose, also known as James Kelly, was sentenced to 36 years in prison in 1999. Photograph: Provision
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Barry Roche
Wed Sept 04 2024 - 19:35

The abuse suffered by three former residents of the Brothers of Charity Residential School at Lota near Glanmire in Cork was once described as “little short of permanent crucifixion” by a judge during sentencing of an elderly cleric there.

There were 166 allegations of child sex abuse made against 50 alleged abusers at the Brothers of Charity school at Lota in the scoping inquiry report into child abuse at religious-run schools published by the Government on Tuesday.

This was the highest number recorded at any of the Special Education Schools listed in the report and second only overall to Blackrock College and its primary school Willow Park, where there were 185 allegations made against 37 alleged abusers.

Judge AG Murphy sentenced Brother Ambrose, also known as James Kelly, to 36 years in prison in 1999.

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Kelly’s case made headlines as it was one of the longest ever prison sentences given for sex abuse.

A quarter of century later, Br Ambrose and Br Eunan are both deceased but the fallout from the abuse continues to reverberate.

The school also featured prominently in the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) report. The CICA report by Mr Justice Sean Ryan recorded 166 allegations of abuse against 50 alleged abusers at Lota, which was established in Cork by the Belgian-founded order in 1938 to cater for children with learning and intellectual disabilities.

Br Eunan was jailed for four years with three suspended in 1997. Photograph: Darragh Mac Sweeney/Provision

Over its history, Lota catered for some 600 boys at its Lady of Good Counsel School with a major expansion taking place in the early 1950s when three large dormitory buildings, known as the pavilions, were built with each pavilion housing approximately 60 boys.

While some abuse occurred on cycling and camping trips, much of the abuse occurred in the pavilions, as abuse survivor Joe O’Driscoll told The Irish Times in 1996 when he recalled how Br Ambrose used to rape him when he went down to clean the furnaces when he was just 13.

“Ten o’clock – I would have to go down and clean out the clinker and then when everything was finished, he would lock the door and start playing with you and if you didn’t do it, he would give you a good hiding,” he said.

It continued until O’Driscoll was 18 when another brother attempted to abuse him and when the teenager headbutted him, the authorities at Lota decided to send O’Driscoll to Grangegorman but he escaped during a visit to hospital and managed to hitch a lift on a cattle boat to Holyhead.

O’Driscoll made his way to Scotland where he carved out a life for himself, but he returned to Cork in 1999 to see his abuser Br Ambrose jailed, much to his satisfaction and that of his fellow abuse survivors, John Barrett and Alan Carroll, following a Garda investigation led by Insp Senan Ryan.

Ryan and his colleagues in Glanmire Garda station also secured convictions for Br Eunan, who was jailed for four years with three suspended in 1997 by the late Judge Patrick Moran at Cork Circuit Court in what proved the first of two sets of convictions for the elderly cleric.

Both Br Ambrose and Br Eunan are referred to as Br Dieter and Br Guthrie in the CICA report, which notes Br Ambrose abused boys for some 20 years while Br Eunan abused boys for 38 years while their abuse at Lota, for which they were convicted, spanned from 1952 to 1984.

In 2002 both men admitted their abuse to the commission, which also examined the order’s records and found Br Ambrose, who was in Lota in the 1950s and1960s, was moved to the UK after abusing in Galway in 1965 and Br Eunan was sent to Lota in 1952 after abusing in the UK.

“The Brothers of Charity failed in their duty of care to the children in Lota in that they placed a known sexual abuser unsupervised in a school with the most vulnerable and at-risk children. They ought to have known that he would commit similar offences,” the CICA report said.

“The Brothers of Charity put the reputation of the Congregation over and above the safety and care of children who were among the most vulnerable in the State … the management of the Brothers of Charity consistently failed to provide a safe environment for children in their care.”