Co. Dublin
13 August 2023
Open letter to Minister for Education in respect of the
Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Schools run
by religious orders
Dear Minister,
I am contacting you in respect of the Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Schools run by religious orders.
As a victim of physical abuse by Father Seamus McEvoy, then headmaster of Saint Kieran’s College, Kilkenny (which I have documented here - www.eoinkcostello.org), I am writing to ask why the physical abuse of children in schools run by religious orders was not included in the scoping inquiry.
While the sexual abuse of students is reprehensible, the physical abuse of children was to some pupils, in terms of long term emotional and psychological impact, very damaging. While child sexual abuse in schools was practised by the perpetrators covertly, physical abuse was practised publicly, systemically and on a scale intended to intimidate and humiliate children while providing an unacceptable outlet for the rage and hatred of some frustrated, predatory members of the religious orders.
Myself and my former Saint Kieran’s classmate Mick Quinn, both feel that on the 40th anniversary of the full implementation of the ban on corporal punishment this is an issue of national significance. While "States of Fear" (2004) investigated the history of child abuse in residential institutions in Ireland, "Cardinal Secrets" (2002) examined the issue of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Ireland and "Suffer the Little Children" (1994) exposed the inside story of Ireland's industrial schools, to date we are not aware of a public examination that has exposed in a systematic way the extent and impact of the physical abuse which took place in religious run schools before the ban on corporal punishment came into widespread effect in 1983.
The state has approached the matters of religious institutional and clerical abuse through the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Ryan Commission), the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin (Murphy Report), the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, the Commission of Investigation into the Sisters of Charity (Goldenbridge), Commission of Investigation into the Sisters of Mercy and the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne (Cloyne Report).
No such commission was established to examine the substantial and lifelong impact of physical abuse on children in schools run by religious orders up until the ban on corporal punishment came into widespread effect in 1983.
I believe that this blind spot on the toll of physical abuse is in part due to the institutional attitude being conditioned by the statute of limitations, while there is no statute of limitations on sexual abuse, the limit for physical abuse it is 2 years.
I note that the current scoping enquiry includes abuse allegations in many cases that extend back to the 1960s and 1970s. This is very welcome. When I have raised the matter of physical abuse prior to 1983 the response I sometimes receive is that it was ‘way back then’.
The reality is that it is not a legacy, "that was then" issue, as experts in PTSD will tell you. For those of our generation that suffered physical abuse, unless they got professional help, the trauma is very much alive in their limbic system and, based on the 10 classmates I rang before I met Father McEvoy a couple of weeks ago, has created a legacy of damaged lives.
My reason for writing now is to ask that the Department of Education scoping inquiry, which will shape the Government’s response to revelations of historical sexual abuse in schools run by religious orders, be extended to include physical abuse.
When you spoke in the Irish Times Minister at the time of launching the consultation element of the scoping inquiry you rightly said it was “vitally important that survivors of historical child sexual abuse have the opportunity to be heard in full’.
We believe that the victims of physical abuse in schools run by religious orders should also be heard.
Your sincerely,
Eoin Costello
Mick Quinn
CC
Mary O’Toole SC, Head of Scoping Inquiry
Kieran McGrath, Director at Irish Child & Family Institute
Maeve Lewis, CEO One in Four
Kathrina Bentley, CEO Men’s Aid