Child Abuse
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Reading Anne-Marie Walsh's article, 'Migrants earning as little as €2 an hour' (Irish Independent, December 17) reminds me of Ireland's earlier workforce who fared even worse.
Those of us who left the Industrial Schools, aged 16 years, were sent to various employments throughout the country.
It was common then for most boys to go to farmers. Many were not paid.
Many also lived in separate outbuildings from the main houses. They worked long hours seven days a week, subjected often to brutal behaviour from the farmer and other family members.
To work in the hotel and catering industry was no better. Here again, many were subjected to bullying, paid less that others and often threatened when trying to complain.
Regarded also with suspicion because of their Industrial School background, they were more than likely to be questioned when anyone complained of theft. Not for us the knowledge of entitlements to social services or monitoring by any 'rights centre' as quoted in the article.
We were left to make our own way in life at 16 and found that life outside the Industrial School walls was often more brutal and scary than within. Those sent to the institutions from homes fared much better than we who were orphans.
It is these orphans who, at age 16, found themselves in a world without any support agencies or structures and who were mainly exploited. Bear this in mind when questioning why those of us from the Industrial Schools, who formed part of the Irish workforce from the '40s to the '70s, should seek justice in the courts or through the Residential Institutions Redress Board set up for this purpose.