Abuse report
Added on July 1, 2004(The above link will take you to the original article in The Irish Times, which is reprinted below. Note that you must subscribe to The Irish Times website to access.)
Allegations of abuse at Dominican orphanage
01/07/2004
Father Gear?id Manning, provincial of the Dominican Order in Ireland, told the investigation committee yesterday that allegations of abuse at their St Saviour's orphanage in Dublin first emerged in 1995. The orphanage was closed in 1993. Patsy McGarry reports.
It had been founded by "journeymen cobblers" at Chapel Lane in 1790, he said, and was lay-run entirely until 1860 when a Dominican friar took over its fund-raising committee. The orphanage moved to Dominick Street in 1927 and had lay staff until 1964.
In 1995 three former residents complained of physical, sexual and emotional abuse there by three former staff. In 2001, six former residents initiated High Court proceedings.
The three former staff concerned included a member of the order, a lay man and a lay woman. The woman is deceased. The layman cannot be traced, and the member of the order has denied the allegations. The order's inquiries into the complaints had been "inconclusive", Father Manning said.
At any one time there were 20 to 25 boys in the orphanage, with a total of approximately 200 over a 40-year period, he said.
The Dominicans had made no formal public apology about abuse, but they had apologised to former residents who complained, he said. The order contributed to the Government redress scheme as it preferred giving money to those who had been hurt rather than spending it on legal fees, and to spare people "the awfulness of a High Court case", he said.
The Sisters of Mercy will appear today before the committee. In May, at a press conference in Dublin, Sisters Breege O'Neill, Mary Reynolds and Mary Conway, of the congregation's leadership team, apologised without reservation and unconditionally to all who suffered as children in institutions run by the order.
Other congregations due before the committee today include the Good Shepherd Sisters, and the Presentation Sisters. The Christian Brothers will give evidence tomorrow, as will the Sisters of Charity, the Daughters of Charity, and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge.
? The Irish Times