Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has released 'The Private Report on Artane Industrial School' which was furnished to his predecessor, Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, on July 7, 1962.In so doing he has honoured his pledge, that the only possible resolution of the child sexual abuse scandal would be when everything came out.
The Archbishop should be congratulated for that.
He has also said: "There are no short cuts. Over the past five years there has been a change in the Church's handling of the issue with a policy of openness and of rapidly addressing problems."
Some would dispute this, pointing to the disparity between what has happened in other countries and what has happened here.
But the Archbishop is still a new broom and should be encouraged in what appears to be the beginnings of a new policy here.
He has put himself at odds with the Government and with the more reactionary elements in the Church, in respect of the abuse issue, and this is where the release of the Father Moore Report is an important action.
It throws into doubt the whole method and direction of what should have been a scrupulous investigation but has turned out to be a flawed one.
The Archbishop has drawn our attention, perhaps unwittingly, to the dishonest and biased handling of the Moore Report and its content in the hearings before the Commission on Child Abuse.
That Commission has concluded its public hearings and its chairman, Judge Sean Ryan, now has to prepare his own Report.
Father Henry Moore's Report shines a clear light of judgement upon the iniquities of Artane and upon the wider iniquities of the Industrial School System for letting what happened at Artane and elsewhere continue unchecked for decades.
The annual reports on industrial schools, year after year, told the same lies, that "the physical and educational needs of the children were adequately catered for", that "those fitted for post-primary education were enrolled in secondary or vocational classes", and that "where it was considered that pupils would benefit from secondary or vocational classes, they were enrolled in such classes".
These regular mantras were simply not true.
Moore's Report was the result of a confidential charge given him by Archbishop McQuaid. It was factual and complete. It was also, it must be said, written intelligently and with style.
It followed a careful reading of the Cussen Report of 1936, itself a damning indictment of Artane, and Father Moore found -- 26 years later -- that nothing had changed.
Moore endorses Cussen's finding, that "in Artane only the minimum standard of literate education required by the regulations is provided" and that trades taught were obsolescent and "useful to the schools rather than providing a groundwork for future employment. The boys are regarded as juvenile labourers".
Moore said Artane "is in need of drastic revision". Management methods employed "are obsolete, proper training is neglected, and there is no attempt at rehabilitation".
Artane is "dilapidated, colourless and uninspiring, and reflects the interior spirit".
Admission is "indiscriminate" with "no regard for background, medical history, antecedents or suitability for the training".
Medical history would not have mattered anyway because the Department of Education inspectors were entirely indifferent to "the seriously inadequate medical facilities in the school" -- no matron or nurse, but run by an unqualified brother "transferred from care of the poultry farm".
Food was sufficient, but plain and unappetising.
Methods of serving were crude and unhealthy.
Clothing was inadequate, uncomfortable, unhygienic and dirty, as were the boys.
The winter during which Moore surveyed conditions was cold, and the one that followed his report was one of the coldest of the last century.
"It is pathetic to observe hundreds of boys walking the roads even in deep winter without overcoats," Moore wrote. "All the clothing was indiscriminately shared. Handkerchiefs are not used."
A trifle, in the broader spectrum of a place run like a prison, but Moore comments: "This fundamental disregard for personal attention inevitably generates insecurity, instability and an amoral concern for the private property of others. This I consider to be a causative factor in the habits of stealing frequently encountered among ex-pupils."
Discipline he found outrageously severe -- "regimentation"; "without proportion"; "boy severely beaten on the face for an insignificant misdemeanour", are phrases used. The result was "undue fear and anxiety", loss of self-esteem and an inability to establish relationships.
He condemned the chapel as dirty and damaged, with mouse-droppings on the Chasuble.
Severest judgements were against the levels of education, with widespread illiteracy in boys up to 14.
Technical training was completely out of date, vocational guidance non-existent, choice of trade training bore no relation to wishes or capacities of the boys.
This was all contrary to the Children's Act of 1908.
A counter move by the department, made aware of the report, was to send inspectors on a two-day visit, the Brothers knowing of it in advance.
A whitewash followed.
An inter-departmental inquiry heard Moore's evidence and accepted a good deal of it but he was given a punishing time, causing his mentor, Archbishop McQuaid, to respond to the department and to the Government.
However, any public confrontation would bring shame on the Church, so the matter was dropped.
As to the charges on education, clothing, care, food, recreation and all the other matters dealt with by Moore, the Commission did not discuss, debate or raise them in a direct and open way, putting each of Moore's criticisms into the public arena for debate and cross-examination.
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