THREATS of legal action by the Christian Brothers against the last pupil to be incarcerated at Glin Industrial School were described this week as “contemptible”.
In 1952, when he was just three years old, Tom Wall was the last child to be sent to St Joseph’s Industrial School for Boys in Glin. In his book, ‘The Boy From Glin’, he documents his 13 years at the County Limerick institution where he was regularly beaten and sexually abused.
65 years later, the European Province of the Congregation of the Christian Brothers has threatened to sue him over the return of documents he saved from being destroyed and subsequently donated to the University of Limerick.
Mr Wall said he was ordered by the School Superior Brother Murray to burn the school records when the Christian Brothers were leaving Glin in 1973. Brother Murray told him he could keep his own records and any other documents he was interested in.
The documents were kept in his attic until 2015 when he donated them to the University of Limerick who said they are “an independent repository for the papers and will await the outcome of any legal actions”.
In legal correspondence seen by The Limerick Post, the Christian Brothers have sought the return of the documents and denied that Tom Wall was allowed to keep any papers.
However Mr Wall says he agreed to give an entire copy of the documents to the Christian Brothers for their archives in Dublinbut is adamant that the originals should remain in Limerick.
“Theses documents are of the people of Limerick and are part of the history of Limerick”, he said.
“It is an insult to me as a survivor and the many other survivors who were abused by the Christian Brothers that they can claim ownership of theses documents after a lapse of 40 years solely in order to destroy them.
County Limerick Fianna Fail TD Niall Collins said that he met recently with Mr Wall about his concerns over the threats of legal action by the Christian Brothers.
“This demonstrates to us again that some religious orders still don’t get it when dealing with former victims of their abuse and indeed the wider public.”
In a letter to Education Minister Richard Bruton, Deputy Collins expressed concerns over the future of the papers.
“Mr Wall has expressed a concern to me, which I share, that these records could then be destroyed and lost for ever.”
Speaking to the Limerick Post, Deputy Collins said it will be quite easily argued that these documents are either the property of the residents or the State.
“The actions of the Christian Brothers in threatening legal action against Tom Wall is nothing short of contemptible.
What Mr Wall did “in seeking to preserve these records for both the former residents and the State is very honourable. It was the right thing to do and indeed rightly serves the wider public interest.
Threats of legal action were “beyond belief”, he said.
“These records contain State referral documents from the Courts and the Departments of Health and Education and also other items like personal letters written by residents to their parents that the Christian Brothers never sent on.”
“The high-handed bullying of Tom Wall cannot be allowed to continue”, he declared.
Deputy Collins said he will call on Minister Bruton to intervene and secure the records as soon as possible.
“What was experienced in Tuam must not be repeated in Glin,” he said.
A catalogue of terror
In May 2009, the Commission to Inquiry into child abuse, commonly known as the Ryan Report, described Glin Insustrial School as having a “severe, systematic regime of corporal punishment”.
Two Christian Brothers, identified by their pseudonyms Br. Buiron and Piperel, were transferred to Glin, having been investigated about sexual abuse in other industrial schools at earlier dates.
The Commission described the decision to transfer them as “reckless”.
The Department of Education was also criticised for failing in its supervisory duties, protecting the institution and dismissing serious complaints.
Watch Deputy Collins speaking on the matter in the Dail this week here.
