MARIE O’HALLORAN
CASES OF child abuse where the Department of Education “stood idly by”, were highlighted in the Dáil during the debate.
Phil Hogan (FG, Carlow-Kilkenny) said that in 2002 he had asked then minister for education Dr Michael Woods for an investigation into “the role of the head of the inspectorate of reformatory industrial schools in giving a clean bill of health to some housemasters and convicted paedophiles like David Murray and Myles Brady in Kilkenny”.
Mr Hogan said that at the time the department was “at the centre of the matters” coming to political and Garda attention and it “stood idly by”. The minister’s response “was a request for me to give him more information rather than to investigate the complaints I had made”.
He also referred to Loretto Byrne, a Department of Education civil servant who was “treated as a crank and dismissed” when she raised concerns about children being abused in institutions. “However, the officials from the department involved at the time were promoted,” said Mr Hogan.
The Carlow-Kilkenny TD pointed out that “some children were transferred to psychiatric institutions which were never investigated by the Ryan commission and should be”.
Catherine Byrne (FG, Dublin South-Central) who used the last moments of her speaking time for a minute’s silence, said “it sickens me to the core to think I live just three minutes’ walk from the gates of one of these institutions where such depravity was part of everyday routine”, in reference to Goldenbridge.
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