Ryan Report made more accessible

REPORT DETAILS ABUSE IN TRALEE AND GLIN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS

THE Ryan Report, which detailed horrific abuse to young boys, in St Joseph’s Industrial School in Tralee and in Glin Industrial School, has been now made more accessible to the public through a new online database of the report.

The report, published in 2009, was the most comprehensive report ever published into institutional abuse in the country. It has 2,600 pages and five volumes but the report is not read by the public due to the sheer volume of material.

It is available to the public since it’s publication but researchers at UCD have turned the report into a database to allow more access and understanding of the contents of the report.

Industrial Memories is a unique collaboration of the School of English, Drama and Film and the UCD Insight Centre, funded by the Irish Research Council.

The database now allows everyone to find witness stories, browse by decade or delve into the activity of the people in the report - from the religious orders to the department of education and the Gardaí.

The database allows people to study and analyse the system of residential childcare institutions in the state by the Church during that period.

The public can now search for information on both St Joseph’s Industrial School and Glin Industrial School by searching under the names of the school – something which was not previously available.

The online database including the conclusions from the report on St Joseph’s Industrial School which found that physical abuse was “systematic and pervasive” and that sexual misconduct was reported but nothing was ever done about it.

It was a similar story in Glin, Co Limerick where the report found that two brothers were transferred to Glin by the Christian Brothers despite evidence or suspicion of sexual misconduct in other locations.

The new digitised version of the Ryan Report also tracks the movement of the Brothers abuse and the movement of the Brothers once it was reported. The names used in the report do not refer to the actual brothers involved.

While it has always been known that the Brothers were moved away a new map put together by UCD researchers shows the movement of these brothers including those from St Joseph’s home in Tralee to other locations.

The report is online at www.industrialmemories.ucd.ie