262. St Joseph’s Industrial School (Ireland)

St Joseph’s Industrial School was located in Artane, Dublin. It opened in 1870 with the aim of caring for neglected, orphaned and abandoned Catholic boys. It closed in 1969.

They used corporal punishment. More important a govermental report provide evidence of sexual abuse.

Sexual abuse of boys was a chronic problem in Artane. The documented and admitted cases show that for more than half of the 33 years under consideration there was at least one Brother in Artane who at some time engaged in sexual abuse of boys. Much more abuse occurred than is recorded in documents because of inadequate recording and reporting procedures and other causes of under-reporting. Sexual activity between boys was also common and there was a significant amount of predatory sexual behaviour by bigger boys on smaller, vulnerable ones.

It could not have been fun to be sent there as a teenager.

• St Joseph’s Industrial School, Artane
  (‘Artane’), 1870–1969 (CICA Investigation Committee Report)
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