A SURVIVOR of abuse in a Catholic industrial school has spoken of his delight at receiving a letter from Justice Minister Dermot Ahern formally stating that he has not, and never had, a criminal record.Michael O’Brien, 75, who spent eight years in St Joseph’s School, Ferryhouse, Clonmel, in the 1930s and 1940s, where he suffered repeated sexual and physical abuse, said he felt a free man for the first time since his incarceration at the age of eight.
Michael was one of tens of thousands of children sent to industrial schools by order of the courts, who were often subsequently treated as having criminal records even though most were placed for welfare reasons. Furthermore, even those who had committed "crimes" such as truancy or theft were generally below the age of criminal responsibility.
"All that I did to deserve being put in that place was that my mother died," he said. "But the records showed I was incarcerated in an industrial school and that was enough to mark me out for life. I was treated as a criminal."
Mr Ahern sought clarification from the attorney general on the issue, following pleas by survivors groups to expunge members’ records in the wake of the Ryan Report and he later stated publicly that no such records or insinuations existed.
Nevertheless, Michael, who set up the Right to Peace support group for survivors, met with Mr Ahern last week to insist on getting written proof and he emerged with a letter certifying: "the State did not and does not regard you as a criminal and no criminal conviction is recorded against you. No person and, in particular, no agency of the State should regard you as in any way tainted by criminality because of your incarceration in St Joseph’s Industrial School."
"I feel a free man at last," said Michael. "I have had this burden for so long and now it’s gone. I think everybody like me should get it off their chests and out of their hearts for once and for all."
The Department of Justice, however, stressed that there was no necessity for survivors to go seeking similar letters.
"If there are people out there who have a specific issue, they can write to the Department of Justice at Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, but we want to assure them that they do not have a criminal record and they have nothing to fear about that," said a spokesman.
"There is no need for them to seek any document from us because there is nothing on record that documents any blemish against their character."
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