On Tuesday we learned that almost 2,400 allegations of sexual abuse in 308 schools run by religious orders over a 30-year period have been disclosed to a Government-appointed inquiry.
The scoping inquiry’s report detailed a systemic culture of abuse in religious-run day and boarding schools throughout the country.
Some 2,395 allegations of abuse were reported against 884 people. Of those accused of abuse, less than half are still alive, according to the report.
The inquiry also revealed that a high number of allegations are concentrated in special education schools, where there were 590 allegations recorded in 17 institutions involving 190 alleged abusers.
Did you attend a religious-run school named in scoping inquiry’s report on alleged abuse? Share your view
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Most of the reported incidents of abuse took place between the early 1960s and early 1990s, with the highest number of reported incidents occurring in the early to mid-1970s.
Respondents to the questionnaire described being “molested, stripped naked, raped and drugged amid an atmosphere of terror and silence”, the report said. Participants in the inquiry spoke of how the abuse evoked “feelings of shame, responsibility, isolation, powerlessness and secrecy”.
If you have been educated by one of the religious orders in the table above and would like to share your experience or sentiments in the wake of these revelations, you may do so using the form below.
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