Offaly abuse allegations against five religious orders

An inquiry into sexual abuse in schools has outlined allegations of abuse committed at schools in Offaly run by five religious orders.

The shocking details were contained in the scoping inquiry into historical sexual abuse in schools run by religious orders, which was published by the Government on Tuesday.

The reported abuse in Offaly was spread throughout the county, with schools in Clara, Ferbane, Tullamore and Birr each the subject of a number of allegations.

The Offaly school which was the subject of the largest number of allegations in the report was St Anthony's College in Clara, run by the Franciscan brothers. The school was the site of eleven abuse allegations involving seven different alleged abusers.

In Ferbane, Scoil Mhuire Primary School in Ferbane, operated by the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny, was the site of three allegations against three alleged abusers.

Similarly, there were three allegations against three alleged abusers at the Presentation Brothers' St Brendan's National School in Birr.

The Christian Brothers were the subject of abuse allegations at both the Tullamore CBS primary and Tullamore CBS secondary schools. There was one allegation of abuse at each of the two schools. There were a further two allegations against one alleged abuser at Portarlington's Christian Brothers primary school.

Also in Portarlington, Colaiste Isogain Secondary School, operated by the Congregation of the Presentation Sisters, was reported to be the site of three abuse allegations involving three alleged abusers.

The report also said there had been 44 allegations of abuse, by 33 alleged abusers, in schools operated by the congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, but a breakdown of the individual Sisters of Mercy schools was not listed in the report.

The main source of the report's information on the sexual abuse allegations was data provided by the religious orders and schools themselves.

In addition, some 205 people, the overwhelming majority of whom were men, came forward to complete questionnaires about their experiences in day and boarding schools run by religious orders.

The details provided by these survivors included harrowing accounts of abuse which they were subjected to, some of which took place in the presence of other children.

When publishing the report on Tuesday, Education Minister Norma Foley also announced the setting up of a Commission of Investigation into the matters raised.

"Historical sexual abuse is a profoundly serious matter and needs to be examined in detail," said the Minister.

"One of the most compelling aspects of the report is that older participants provided devastating accounts of how sexual abuse in childhood has affected their entire lives, from their schooldays through adolescence, early adulthood and right through to later years.

"I am pleased to note that the report states that current child protection measures in schools are robust and effective and I am conscious that the safety of children today is a matter of paramount concern to survivors and all of society."

In total, the report cited 2,395 allegations of sexual abuse in respect of 308 schools, as recorded by the religious orders which ran those schools. The allegations related to the actions of 884 separate alleged abusers

Notwithstanding the shockingly high prevalence of sexual abuse against children, the report stated that "the total number of allegations likely exceeds that figure, given the level of underreporting of childhood sexual abuse noted in the Central Statistics Office Sexual Violence Survey".