AN unholy row has erupted between the Christian Brothers and the Archbishop of Dublin over a report on one of the country's notorious industrial schools that was compiled 45 years ago.In an unprecedented public attack on an Archbishop by a religious order, the Brothers said they were "shocked and dismayed" at the decision of Dr Diarmuid Martin to recently release a 1962 Church report into the conditions at Artane industrial school which is the subject of an inquiry by the Ryan Commission on Child Abuse.
The report, compiled by Artane's then chaplain, Fr Henry Moore, followed a request from his Archbishop John Charles McQuaid to conduct a "confidential survey" on the management of the Artane school.
His report dealt with a number of issues including general care, diet, clothing, discipline and education of the 450 boys who were then resident at the school.
On the controversial issue of discipline, he wrote that while the boys were reasonably well fed, discipline was rigid and severe and "frequently approaches pure regimentation".
"Constant recourse to physical punishment breeds undue fear and anxiety.
"The personality of the boy is inevitably repressed, maladjusted and in some cases abnormal," he said in his report.
A follow-up special inspection to the chaplain's survey was made by two inspectors of the Department of Education and the medical inspector.
But it was Archbishop Martin's decision to make Fr Moore's report public following repeated requests from SOCA, the Survivors of Child Abuse organisation that has raised the ire of the Christian Brothers.
In a lengthy statement, the Brothers said Dr Martin's decision to release the controversial 1962 survey was "unconscionable" while it was under consideration by the Commission on Child Abuse.
Last night Christian Brothers spokesperson Edmund Garvey for the Brothers warned there was a danger of injustice being done by simply putting one document into the public domain out of many that were available to the commission.
"We are not trying to deny anything but this document has to be taken along with a number of other perspectives and reports," he told the Irish Independent.
Fr Moore's account had not been made available to the Brothers at the time and was released recently without any reference or prior information to them or presumably to the Commission, they said.
The chaplain's survey was only discovered by the Christian Brothers in June 2005 by the Commission through its procedures for documentation discovery.
Recent press reports also required the Brothers to accept that the chaplain was to be believed, while the inspectors were engaged in a "whitewash", according to their statement.
However, they pointed out that they had been unable to obtain the commission's permission to publish the report of the inspectors.
The Brothers were aware of all documentation submitted to the commission and were awaiting the findings when the report was published.
"They are not seeking top hide any information nor to disclose what is now properly with the Commission," it said.
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