Victims and survivors of alleged physical abuse in schools have called on the Government to widen the statutory inquiry into historical sexual abuse in schools to include corporal punishment.
In September, the Government announced a Commission of Investigation following the Scoping Inquiry.
It has since emerged that some of those who contacted the Scoping Inquiry team about the alleged physical abuse they endured were informed that their complaints fell outside the terms of reference.
Many turned to RTÉ's Liveline to highlight their stories.
An RTÉ documentary 'Leathered', which will be aired tonight, focuses on the use of corporal punishment in Irish schools from the middle of the 20th Century.
The documentary examines how alleged abuses in religious and lay schools impacted former pupils nationwide.
'Leathered’ raises questions about the treatment of children at schools and the significant under-reporting of physical abuse experienced by generations.
Peter Kane from Navan in Co Meath is among those who features in the documentary.
He recalls the fear and anxiety he experienced going to school as a 12-year-old and the alleged abuse he endured.
"I didn't cry, that in itself was a signal for him to carry on beating you and he done so, and bounced my head off the blackboard, bounced my body around the room, knocked me up against his desk, and at one stage, I collapsed and fell on the ground because he done something to my back," he said.
"Then he dragged me up, proceeded to beat me, I was in a lot of pain and I was basically sore all over. It took me a number of weeks to recover."
Eoin Costello explained the impact of being punched in the face.
"I saw this shadow on the glass door at the entrance to the room," said Mr Costello.
"He marched literally with closed fists, punched and then punched… and then turned on his heel and walked out... It never went away.
"Forty years. It's never gone away the impact of that punch in the face."
Figures released by the Department of Education to RTÉ’s Documentary team show that between 1962 and 1982, 108 allegations involving physical abuse by teachers were recorded by the Department.
Only 13 of these allegations related solely to physical abuse. 95 included allegations of other forms of abuse.
A total of 87 of the allegations were primary level (where children as young as four attended school), while 21 were at second level.
During the same period, millions of students went through the State education system.
For example, in 1962, there were 570,380 students enrolled at primary and secondary schools funded by the State.
By 1982 - after free secondary education was introduced in 1966 - that figure had risen to 766,864.
In 1982, corporal punishment in schools was banned by way of Ministerial instrument.
Up until then, under Department of Education rules only certain nominated teachers were permitted to physically chastise their pupils at primary and secondary level.
In practice, many other teachers regularly used violence to enforce discipline at school and often went much further than the school rules allowed.
Small number of recorded allegations reflect culture at time
In the five years following the introduction of the 1982 ban, nine allegations were recorded, which suggests that physical violence in schools did not end with the implementation of the ban.
Experts interviewed in the programme say the small number of recorded allegations reflected the culture at the time and poor record keeping by the State.
Former Independent Senator Jillian van Turnhout, who led the campaign to have corporal punishment banned in the home in 2015, said: "Maybe nobody saw it as important enough to take a record, to file a report when it was received by (the) Department of Education.
"We have seen, for example, in the 2009 Ryan Report, that clearly showed us there was twice the incidence of physical abuse versus sexual abuse when it came to industrial schools.
"So why don't we see similar levels when it comes to school reporting of physical punishment?"
Contributors to the documentary have called on the Government to include physical abuse as part of the terms of reference of the Statutory Inquiry which will be established to examine historical sexual abuse in day and boarding schools run by religious orders.
Dermot Flynn told the documentary that when the Scoping Inquiry was announced he filled in the questionnaire and communicated with the Inquiry team through email.
"And then I get the bombshell from them that you know you weren’t sexually abused, we don’t really want to know about your case.
"So that made me feel that physical abuse wasn’t that important, even though it had impacted my whole life."
Survivors and experts feel there is a pressing need to establish the true scale and impact of all forms of abuse in Irish schools.
Leathered - Violence in Irish Schools will be broadcast tonight at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and on the RTÉ Player.