The “vast majority” of those complaints relate to Willow Park and Blackrock College, which were run by the Spiritan congregation, formerly the Holy Ghost Fathers. Willow Park is the junior school located on the grounds of Blackrock College.
The allegations of widespread abuse in such institutions became public when two brothers spoke of being sexually abused by priests at Blackrock College.
The revelations by Mark and David Ryan in a RTÉ Radio 1 Doc on One documentary in 2022 led to an large number of claims from pupils abused in the schools, which also include Templeogue College in Dublin and Rockwell College in Co Tipperary.
According to an update on the Blackrock College Union website, more than 290 people have now complained against 49 Spiritan clergy and 12 lay members of staff. Every Spiritan institution has been accused.
Approximately 50 individual restorative justice meetings have taken place to date with face-to-face meetings between victims and those who currently run the Spiritan order.
An organisation called Restore Together was established with the support of the Blackrock College (Past Pupils) Union in the spring of 2021 and the Spiritan congregation in Ireland has become involved.
They are using a restorative justice template where the victims meet the heads of the Spiritan order currently running the schools.
The order has been involved in making personal apologies to those affected. It is also exclusively funding counselling services for survivors.
The update from the union also stated that the Spiritans should commit to a financial redress scheme.
Detailed plans have been submitted to the Spiritans and their solicitors by Restore Together about how a redress scheme might be implemented.
Restore Together has stressed that such a redress scheme must be “victim-centred, non-adversarial and trauma-informed”.
It added that “no amount of money will ever compensate for a lost childhood”, but a redress scheme should do “full Christian justice to victims and make awards that fully recognise the victims and their suffering.
“To help achieve this, scheme payments should at least match what a victim/survivor would receive in a successful Court case,” it states.
The statement concluded that the Spiritan order had not yet finalised the terms of a scheme and have recently said that they are not in a position to say when they envisage the scheme will become operational.