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  Past Student Lays No Blame on Abusers

By Tracy Neal
Nelson Mail
May 27, 2009

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/2448114/Past-student-lays-no-blame-on-abusers

A Nelson man educated at a school in Ireland recently condemned in a report on child abuse, said the "system" created and fostered the violence and oppression and individuals were not to blame.

Patrick McGrath, 75, grew up in the Galway cathedral town of Tuam and went to a primary school run by Catholic religious order Christian Brothers where he was subjected to, and witnessed, regular abuse.

The Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse report, released in Ireland last week, took nine years to compile and said that orphanages and industrial schools in 20th-century Ireland were places of fear, neglect and endemic sexual abuse.

The commission blasted successive generations of priests, nuns and Christian Brothers for beating, starving and, in some cases, raping children in Ireland's now defunct network of industrial and reformatory schools from the 1930s onwards.

Mr McGrath, one of 12 children in his family, said violence was nationwide in schools.

"Everyone was secretive, quiet and complacent.

"It was non-stop, but you can't blame individuals only the system that created what happened," said Mr McGrath, a retired teacher who came to New Zealand in 1964.

He can recall sitting in class as a youngster in 1940.

"I would be writing on my rough paper, and suddenly 'whack' on the side of my head for making a small mistake."

He also remembers being pulled across the classroom by his cheek and being hit in the ear at the same time.

"Primary school was bad enough and then we went to secondary school.

"One of the brothers had this long strap a thick layer of black leather with lead and coins inside for extra weight.

"He hit one boy so hard on the hand he spun around and hit his head on the floor."

"Our mother did what she could to protect us."

Mr McGrath said boys were physically punished and girls were humiliated in "all kinds of ways", particularly those from homes that could not afford to dress them properly.

He said there was nowhere to turn for help, because at the time Ireland was a religious republic and the Church controlled the government.

"It had no money after [the] Depression and war, and was reliant on church bodies.

"The only people who could provide homes for kids were the Catholics, because the state couldn't.

"There were cover-ups everywhere. Oppression and violence were part of the landscape."

The commission found that from 1936, more than 200 schools and residential settings had a climate of child abuse.

It has heavily criticised Ireland's Department of Education for its failure to stop the crimes. In rare cases, when it was informed of sexual abuse, "it colluded in the silence", the report said.

Successful legal action by the Christian Brothers led the commission to drop its original intention to name the people against whom the allegations were made.

No abusers will be prosecuted as a result of the inquiry.

 
 

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