Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: Keys findings from the full investigation into state-run children's institutions in Ireland from the 1930s - 1990s Tens of thousands of Irish children were sexually, physically and emotionally abused by nuns, priests and others over 60 years in a network of church-run residential schools meant to care for the poor, the vulnerable and the unwanted. The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse released their 2,600-page report in May 2009 which paints a picture of institutions characterized by privation and cruelty that could be both casual and choreographed. The report, by a state-appointed commission, exposes for the first time the scope of the problem in Ireland, as well as how the government and the church colluded in perpetuating an abusive system.  The report is based in part on old church records of unreported abuse cases and in part on the anonymous testimony of 1,060 former students from a variety of 216 mostly church-run institutions, including reformatories and so-called industrial schools, set up to tend to neglected, orphaned or abandoned children.  Some 30,000 children were sent to such places over six decades, the report says, often against their families’ wishes and because of pressure from powerful local priests. They were sent because their families could not afford to care for them, because their mothers had committed adultery or given birth out of wedlock, or because one or both of their parents was ill, drunken or abusive. They were also sent because of petty crime, like stealing food, or because they had missed school. The report, by a state-appointed commission, exposes for the first time the scope of the problem in Ireland, as well as how the government and the church colluded in perpetuating an abusive system.  The report is based in part on old church records of unreported abuse cases and in part on the anonymous testimony of 1,060 former students from a variety of 216 mostly church-run institutions, including reformatories and so-called industrial schools, set up to tend to neglected, orphaned or abandoned children.  Some 30,000 children were sent to such places over six decades, the report says, often against their families’ wishes and because of pressure from powerful local priests. They were sent because their families could not afford to care for them, because their mothers had committed adultery or given birth out of wedlock, or because one or both of their parents was ill, drunken or abusive. They were also sent because of petty crime, like stealing food, or because they had missed school. Many of the former students said that they had not learned their own identities until decades later. They also said that their parents had unsuccessfully tried to reclaim them from the state. Key findings, documented in the Executive Summary, revealed that: Â