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"Ferocious" violence, a regime of sexual assaults and rapes, and a culture of silence have been laid out in a shocking report which levels 2,400 allegations of abuse against 884 teachers, priests and others in 308 schools across Ireland.
The Government's long-awaited report into sexual abuse at religious-run boarding and day-schools was prompted by revelations of systemic abuse by the Spiritan order at Blackrock College.
But it shows that abuse was much more widespread in schools, more pervasive and more flagrant than imagined. They include 17 special schools which recorded 590 allegations involving 190 alleged abusers. At least half of all the alleged perpetrators are known to be deceased.
Education Minister Norma Foley said the Government will begin the process of establishing a commission of investigation into the abuse, though survivors fear this could delay redress or justice. Ms Foley said that while no redress scheme has been agreed, religious orders have a "moral obligation" to play their part.
Tribunals of inquiry have taken an average of six years and cost €53m each but the cost of any commission of inquiry into sexual abuse in schools, or of a redress scheme, is impossible to quantify at this stage given the scale of inquiry ahead. Ms Foley said she is open to expanding the commission's remit to all second-level schools.
Across 700 pages, the report details harrowing accounts of sexual assault at the hands of members of religious orders, teachers, priests, other school staff, or visitors to their school. Some victims said they had been groomed, others that their abuse occurred at random, while most described it occurring alongside "ferocious violence".
In page after page of distressing testimony, participants in the scoping inquiry headed by senior counsel Mary O'Toole recount vicious beatings and brazen sexual assaults, often committed in full classrooms.
Some describe seeing others being raped in their beds. On one of his first nights in a boarding school, one witnessed a boy being raped by two priests while the others were sleeping. The boy was beaten unconscious, and they "took turns with the boy", the report says.
The participant said he himself was taken from his bed at night, wrapped in a cloak of some sort, gagged and raped.
A small number reported being drugged into immobility or unconsciousness prior to sexual abuse.
In Cork, 166 allegations were made against 50 alleged abusers at the Brothers of Charity’s Lota in Glanmire, while in Dublin 130 allegations were made against 24 alleged abusers at the Spiritans-run Willow Park Junior School/First year in Blackrock. A further 60 allegations were made against 18 alleged abusers at Rockwell College in Cashel, Tipperary, also run by the Spiritans.
A further 44 alleged abusers had 63 allegations made against them at St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls in Cabra in Dublin.
The report outlines how the victims felt shame, did not understand or were afraid to speak out. One said they felt they could not go to mass because they had "committed an awful sin".
Abusers would groom children, become ingratiated with their families or invent extra-curricular activities as a pretence for sexual abuse.
The majority of allegations came from men. Many reported never telling anyone about the abuse at the time.
Most who came forward are aged in their 50s, 60s and 70s now with the abuse dating as far back as the 1960s. Some said it was the first time they discussed the abuse and its impact on them.
A number of them had emigrated, leaving their towns and communities as soon as they could to escape the reminders of their abuse. They found returning home painful and, in particular, going to church services such as funerals or weddings.
The representative body for Catholic orders across Ireland said it is "deeply sorry" that victims experienced abuse in religious-run schools.
The Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious in Ireland (AMRI) said it "welcomes" the publication of the Scoping Inquiry Report.
In a statement, a spokesperson for AMRI said: "We acknowledge the courage and bravery of the victims and survivors.
"We are deeply sorry that they experienced abuse in religious-run schools.
"We are acutely aware that sharing personal, sensitive, and traumatic experiences can cause additional pain and suffering.
"We recognise that we can never know the depth of the pain and suffering survivors have endured and continue to endure.
"AMRI actively worked with those of its members who are involved in running schools to facilitate the fullest cooperation in this Inquiry.
"We will carefully examine the recommendations and respond accordingly.
"Religious Orders and Congregations continue to provide access to safeguarding personnel to support victims and survivors.
"A broad range of support is available, including access to funded counselling and therapeutic services (Towards Healing and Towards Peace), pastoral and restorative justice processes."
It said it encouraged anyone needing support to contact the individual religious orders and congregations to get the help they need.
"It is critical to restate that rigorous child protection structures are in place in all Catholic schools to maximise the safety of every student," it added.
• “He’d get through as many of us as he could at a time. He abused us in front of each other.”
That is just one of a myriad of graphic accounts by alleged victims of sexual abuse in schools as documented in the scoping inquiry’s report which Taoiseach Simon Harris described as “a really harrowing read”.
• Another said: “What would happen is the brother, and principal of the school, would, in front of the class, ask one of the boys to go to the top of the class and eventually sit him on his knee. There he would put his hands up and down the boy’s leg moving from the upper thigh to beneath the short trousers.
• Another participant in the report said: ‘When it happened on Monday and Tuesday you knew you were lucky because that meant you were off Wednesday and Thursday. But you were probably back on for the Friday […] It felt like a monster behind you.”
• One alleged victim described their abuser as an “evil man”. “Any of the boys sitting along the front of the class, he used to sit with his legs between theirs and put his hand up their pants.”
• One participant said: “I remember coming out of the room and passing another priest, and not even being asked why I was there.” Another said: “None of us went to sleep the same way after that, we were all armed […] We were never sure whether or not he had gone.”
• Another recalled being “covered” in semen. “I had to take a bath while he was gone. I was ill apart from anything else and this was happening. He knew that no one else was around.”
• Other participants described how they saw others being raped in their sleeping quarters. On one of his first nights, one said he witnessed a boy being raped by two priests in the dorm while the others were sleeping. The boy was beaten unconscious, and they took turns with the boy.
The participant reported that subsequently he was “taken from his bed at night, wrapped in a cloak of some sort, gagged and raped”.
• Another said: “[That teacher] was upstairs. If you could get into [that teacher’s] class, you could escape the corridors and the priests. You were safe. It was like Schindler’s list.”
• Another recalled the abuser would “make you float in the pool on your back, and he would penetrate you with his middle finger”.
“That happened many, many times. He would make us model underwear and take photos of us.”
• A participant described how a priest “pushed himself up against him, grabbed him by the throat and the back of his neck. He physically pushed up against him. This caused great distress”. Looking back, one participant said: “When you’re in it you don’t realise that it’s not normal. You don’t realise that your norm is not the norm.”
• Another said: “Shame; a concealed, contagious, and dangerous emotion. Shame informed me of an internal state of dishonour. It made me want to withdraw, to hide, which I did for a while. But now I’m here to give back the shame.”
• If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.