Patsy McGarry 13/06/2006 Irish Times

The secretary general of the Department of Education and Science has accepted that the State had "ultimate responsibility" for the care of children held in residential institutions owned and managed by religious congregations. Replying to a question from Patrick Hanratty, senior counsel for the Christian Brothers, Brigid McManus yesterday said "the State had chosen to take the children from their natural guardians and had handed them to the care of someone else and so had a responsibility to ensure they were cared for properly". Ms McManus was giving evidence to the investigation committee of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

In a brief statement earlier she acknowledged it was the department's responsibility, on behalf of the State, to ensure children in the institutions received care appropriate to their needs. She "freely acknowledged the inspectorate system [ of the institutions] was inadequately implemented and didn't meet the minimum requirements of the 1908 [ Children's] Act." From 1933 to 1960, there was no great change in the number of personnel at the department's industrial school and reformatory branch, with an average staff of eight. Inspections should have taken place at least once a year but the annual average for the 1940s was 0.97, 1.36 for the 1950s, and 0.78 for the 1960s. In 1975 there were a number of inspections at the Baltimore Fishery School in Cork, but none at Artane. Nor were there any inspections at Artane in the three years 1950/51/52.

When inspections did take place, they were "impressionistic", with "no marking system as such," except when it came to the weight of children. The department was aware of the use of corporal punishment in the institutions but "in fairness, it was regulated", she said. Following what Mr Hanratty described as "the golden era" of Dr Anna McCabe, who conducted thorough general and medical inspections between 1939 and 1965, there was no replacement for 10 years. Ms McManus was "not sure why she was not replaced". The department received quarterly (medical) reports from the institutions and Dr Lysaght, who conducted some inspections in 1966, suggested there was not sufficient work for a medical inspectorate.

Ms McManus acknowledged it was "quite clear there were a lot of meetings between residential managers and ministers over funding." Such meetings took place in the 1940s with Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, also acting minister for education from 1939, and his successor Tomás Derrig. In 1969, following such a meeting with then minister for finance Charles Haughey, he instructed a doubling of the capitation grant. There was always "a clear expectation by the department [ of education] of a voluntary contribution" by the religious congregations to running the institutions and she spoke of difficulties with the format of accounts presented by the religious when seeking funding. She agreed a concept of self-sufficiency was a feature of the institutions but that frequently they did not include details of farming accounts, for example, in figures submitted to the department. There was "resistance in supplying the information in a way the department wanted", she said, and "resistance to the idea of the State trying to control how they managed the institutions". Ms McManus agreed a 1962 inspection at Artane established there was "no basis" for abuse complaints by chaplain Fr Moore and that the 1964 death of Patsy Flanagan there was due to an anaesthetic administered when he was being treated for injury.