Madam, – One would assume that victims of abuse within industrial schools have suffered enough pain, without being made out to be fabricators as well (Page 1, June 3rd). If Christian Brothers’ province leader Br Kevin Mullan (who is reported as having stated that the leather strap was the only form of punishment laid down by the congregation) had been in or around St Joseph’s CBS Salthill Galway between 1963 and 1971 he would have seen that the form of punishment comprised bare-knuckle punches to the face or open-hand slaps on the face as well as walloping with hurley sticks on the legs and rear end. There was one perpetrator who as well as the above for punishment used plastic pipes or similar (and never the leather strap referred to by Br Kevin Mullan, in the report). There is no doubt that this is a blatant cover-up by the Christian Brothers. Everyone was guilty of perpetrating the same form of abuse that we had to bear morning noon and night.
I would welcome the opportunity of naming those people if permitted to do so by your newspaper. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Finally, sense has prevailed. A rare opportunity now presents itself in the form of Bishop Buckley’s proposals (June 4th). If the Government has the courage and determination to immediately act on them, we might yet achieve something positive from this appalling travesty. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As a former pupil of what was once the Artane Industrial School and being a child of State care, I would like to take this opportunity to convey my good experience in the said institution. My experience, however, dates from the late 1980s/early 1990s when I was a secondary school student in what is now called St David’s CBS Artane and I was in long-term foster care with a local family.
Had I been born 50 years earlier I would have been attending this school in different circumstances and I think this is a reflection of the advances we have made in our society. Foster parents, with the help of social workers, worked closely with Christian Brothers and their lay colleagues to look after the welfare of a foster child, who won the Student of the Year award in final year of schooling before attending Trinity College Dublin.
Our purpose today is to give our children the best possible opportunities they deserve and we must discuss this report and hear from as many people as possible about their experiences. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – When will the three teachers unions apologise for the thuggery carried out by some of their members during the period covered by the Ryan report? All the blame so far seems to be directed at the clergy and religious Orders. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Prof Malcolm Potts (June 2nd) falls into the trap of blaming celibacy as the sole cause of abuse.
Horrendous and shameful though the details in the Ryan report may be, they are, statistically, only the tip of the iceberg, as all research has shown that the majority of abuse – physical, mental and sexual – is committed within the home environment by non-celibate fathers, uncles, grandfathers, brothers, cousins and neighbours. Abuse has very little to do with celibacy. Power is always the trigger for abuse.
Throwing out such nonsense as Prof Potts does contributes nothing to consoling the victims nor identifying and stopping current abusers.
The one group of people who have escaped any censure in this scandal and in the previous scandal of the Magdalene homes are the parents who put their children into these institutions. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – When I was a child at Mass almost 60 years ago, we were told to pray for the conversion of Russia to Catholicism. Should we now pray for the conversion of Catholicism – to Christianity? – Yours, etc,