MORE than one third of children sent to 15 industrial schools were committed by one of the country's leading child protection agencies.The Irish Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) which employed "cruelty men" -- retired police and army personnel hired to monitor deprivation and investigate complaints of child abuse and neglect -- committed some 37pc of children to 15 industrial schools, according to a sample of victims who testified before the inquiry's investigative committee.
The Commission said it could not ascertain the actual numbers of children who were committed to industrial schools by the Society due to the paucity of records available, in part due to a fire at the agency's head office in Dublin in 1961.
But the inquiry said that the ISPCC, formerly the NSPCC, played a "significant" role in committing children to industrial schools.
A dedicated committee investigated 15 industrial schools and found that 84 out of 226 complainants who gave evidence about their time in industrial schools had been referred by the NSPCC/ISPCC.
The ISPCC has conceded that it played a "prominent" role in the committal of children and said that as the only child protective organisation during the period investigated by the commission, it was "reasonable to suspect that we certainly have committed a significant number" to the schools.
Six out of 10 cases reviewed by the "cruelty men" were in fact referred by people who approached the inspectors themselves, with neglect one of the main reasons for referral.
The ISPCC described in graphic terms from the 1930s to the 1950s cases of neglect and strongly criticised the excessive use of industrial schools. But their pleas went unheard and in 1956 -- when former Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid became one of the patrons of the Society -- the awkward questions were jettisoned.
"The exposure of the underbelly had ground to a halt," said the commission.
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