SINGER and musician Don Baker, who suffered at the hands of the Oblate Brothers, has publicly named the cleric who did nothing to stop his abuse.He described how Fr William McGonagle turned a blind eye to the shocking physical, sexual and emotional abuse of young boys at St Conleth's Reformatory School in Daingean, Co Offaly.
Fr McGonagle, who was given the pseudonym Fr Luca in the Ryan commission report, was the resident manager of St Conleth's when Mr Baker was sent there as a 12-year-old for stealing a bicycle.
"He didn't administer the flogging. He handed that over to another Brother. But he knew exactly what was going on and did nothing to stop it," said Mr Baker.
The popular musician endured repeated beatings and emotional abuse in the 17 months he spent there in the early 1960s.
He said that one Brother attempted to groom him for sexual abuse and beat him viciously when he resisted.
"I was put working in the church on my own with a paedophile Brother who would interrogate me every morning asking me filthy questions about masturbation," he said.
"I was only a child, but I had this gut feeling not to trust him and not to give him the response he wanted.
"I remember he beat me in the sacristy with a leather as punishment."
Mr Baker had to receive therapy over a period of 15 years, such was the impact of the abuse.
"I'm delighted that the truth is finally out there. The report is fantastic," he said. "Not everyone is happy with it, but I am looking at the positive side. I feel it is a vindication. I feel validated after all this time. I feel a weight has been lifted from my shoulders."
The commission report stated that the physical abuse of boys in Daingean was extreme. Ritualised floggings were inflicted even for minor transgressions.
"Flogging was administered in a cruel, sadistic and excessive manner designed to maximise the terror of all the boys," the report said.
Fr McGonagle died two years ago. In his statement to the commission prior to his death he attempted to downplay his knowledge of the abuse.
"I never saw the boys being punished while I was there," he claimed.
However, the commission said that evidence contradicted his claims.
Meanwhile, the identity of a serial offender also emerged yesterday.
Donal Dunne, a Christian Brother who began teaching in the 1940s, was allowed to abuse children until he was jailed in 1995 for sexually assaulting a young boy.
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