Wednesday, September 04, 2024

10 Kerry schools named in inquiry into historical sexual abuse

10 schools in Kerry have been listed as locations where historical sexual abuse took place in the report published by the Scoping Inquiry this week.

The schools named in the report were: Tralee CBS (Primary), Cahersiveen CBS (Primary), Cahersiveen CBS (Secondary), Tralee CBS (Secondary), Scoil Mhuire Milltown (amalgamated with the girls’ school, Nagle Rice, NS) and Scoil Mhuire na Mainstreach in Killarney.

These six schools were provided in information gathered by the Scoping Inquiry from the religious orders.

Shockingly the records gathered from the religious orders show that Tralee CBS Primary School had a total of 27 allegations of historical sexual abuse, with six alleged abusers while CBS Primary in Cahersiveen has 6 allegations, with 5 alleged abusers.

The CBS secondary schools at The Green, Tralee, had one allegation and the CBS in Cahersiveen also had one allegation against one abuser at each school

There was one allegation at Scoil Mhuire Milltown and one alleged abuser and that was also the case for Scoil Mhuire na Mainstreach in Killarney.

Aside from the information gathered from the religious orders, participants in the report who told their horrific stories, named four other schools as locations were they were abused.

These included Presentation Convent, Listowel, Scoil Naomh Eoin, Balloonagh, Tralee (the Mercy primary), Presentation Convent Primary School, Dingle, and St. John’s Secondary School, Sisters of Mercy, Balloonagh.

Elsewhere, the report outlines that there were 820 allegations at 132 schools run by the Christian Brothers; 329 allegations at six schools run by the Spiritans and 294 allegations at three schools run by the Brothers of Charity.

Dozens more religious orders are also named in relation to allegations of abuse.

Over 800 people have been accused of more than 2,300 instances of historical sexual abuse at 308 religious schools in Ireland, according to the records.

The Government-appointed scoping inquiry said it had contacted 73 religious orders that ran or are still running schools in Ireland, with 42 having records of historical sexual-abuse allegations. 

The report said 17 were special schools, which recorded 590 allegations involving 190 alleged abusers.

The report says that sexual abuse happened between the 1960s and the early 1990s, with the highest number of reported incidents occurring in the early-to-mid-1970s.