Brothers of Charity apologises for sexual abuse suffered by almost 300 schoolchildren
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A religious congregation at the centre of nearly 300 allegations of schools child abuse has again apologised for the abuse children in its care suffered.
The Brothers of Charity accounted for 294 of the 2,400 allegations of abuse detailed the Government's long-awaited report into sexual abuse at religious-run boarding and day-schools.
Published on Tuesday, the Scoping Inquiry detailed a regime of sexual assaults and rapes by 884 teachers, priests and others in 308 schools across Ireland, three of which were run by the Brothers of Charity.
Some 119 allegations were made against Brothers of Charity staff at the Holy Family School, Renmore, Galway, nine were made against staff at St Mary’s, Rochestown and 166 allegations made against staff at the Brothers of Charity’s Lota Hall in Glanmire.
In a statement to the a spokesperson said that since the congregation was made aware in the mid-1990s of allegations of sexual abuse in its schools they have put in place “rigorous child protection structures” in order to maximise the safety of every pupil.
They said that they have “co-operated fully” with three abuse investigations, namely, the Inquiry into Holy Family School in 2007, the 2009 ‘Ryan Commission’ and the more recent Scoping Inquiry.
The Scoping Inquiry reviewed allegations of historical child sexual abuse made against religious, lay staff, visiting clergy and pupils from 1927 to April 2003.
In their submission to it, the congregation says it included a comprehensive count of all the allegations known to it including those considered by the Ryan Commission and the Holy Family School Inquiry.
“We are deeply sorry that pupils experienced abuse in three schools run by the Brothers of Charity,” they said.
“We apologised publicly and unreservedly to pupils and families when the earlier reports were published and we renew our sincere apologies.
“We provided counselling and support to any former pupils who wished to avail of it following those reports.
The statement added: “We continue to provide access to independent safeguarding personnel to support victims and survivors through the independent counselling and therapeutic service, ‘Towards Healing’.
“We encourage anyone who attended a Brothers of Charity school who needs support to contact ‘Towards Healing’ directly to get the independent help they may need.”
Meanwhile, Inclusion Ireland CEO Derval McDonagh said that there are likely to be many more victims of the schools abuse.
She said: "We are particularly focused on the abuse experienced by disabled children in special schools.
"Some 528 allegations and 190 alleged abusers relate to special schools, the biggest number in a school for children with intellectual disabilities.
"We know that there are probably many more individuals affected but for a variety of reasons, they have not come to light."
The Brothers of Charity have a freephone number - 1800 303416 - for anyone who attended a Brothers of Charity school and who needs confidential independent professional support.
Former pupils who prefer to contact the Brothers of Charity directly are invited to email the congregation at response.boc@gmail.com.