A former house parent at St Joseph's orphanage in Kilkenny told the High Court yesterday he resigned in 1977 because of a failure to deal with his complaints that a second house parent was abusing boys.
In his letter of resignation to the then reverend mother, Sister Conception, Mr Edward Murphy expressed concerns for the safety of boys at the orphanage.
Mr Murphy also said he later had meetings in 1977 about the matter with the late Bishop of Ossory, Dr Peter Birch, and Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, then director of Kilkenny Social Services.
Mr Murphy, now quality assurance officer in childcare with the South Eastern Health Board, was giving evidence in an action for damages against the orphanage and the Minister for Education by a man who claims that, when he was a schoolboy in the mid-1970s, he had visited the orphanage and was sexually abused by the second house parent (since deceased).
He had worked in St Joseph's in 1976 into 1977. Another house parent (not the deceased) had left suddenly at the time. That man was currently serving a sentence for sexually abusing some of the boys.
The deceased man accused of sexually abusing the then schoolboy was taken on as a house parent. He thought the man's behaviour was bizarre. Two boys told him that when the new house parent came in every night he usually smelled of drink and would beat the boys up.
He told Sister Conception what the boys had told him. Later the boys came back and said things were worse. As a result of his complaint, nothing happened. He spoke to Sister Conception a second time. He believed nothing was going to happen and believed she would be happier if he had left, that he was causing trouble.
The hearing resumes on Tuesday next.