The picture of Artane industrial school that emerges from Fr Henry Moore's 1962 report is of a drab, dysfunctional and monotonous place with institutionalised cruelty and inadequate facilities. Paul Cullenreports.
Education standards were low, the boys were poorly fed and clothed and 80 per cent emigrated after leaving.
Discipline is "rigid and severe and frequently approaches pure regimentation", Fr Moore wrote in his "private report" to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid.
"The administration of punishment is in charge of a disciplinarian, but in practice is not confined to him. There seems to be no proportion between punishment and the offence."
One boy was severely beaten on the face in Fr Moore's presence for "an insignificant misdemeanour"; another was punished so excessively and for so long that he ran the mile to the chaplain's house late at night.
In another case, a hurley was used to inflict punishment on a small boy for a negligible offence.
The boys' apparel was "grossly neglected", he wrote. "The boys' clothing is uncomfortable, unhygienic and of a displeasing sameness. They are constantly dirty, both themselves and their clothes.
"The quality of the material is poor due to the fact that it is manufactured on the premises."
Overcoats were supplied only when a boy could afford to pay £3-4 for one. "It is pathetic to observe hundreds of boys walking the roads of the district on Sunday mornings even in deep winter without overcoats."
"Shirts, underwear, stockings, footwear, nightshirts are all common property and are handed down from generations. When these articles are duly laundered they are distributed at random, sometimes without regard to size."
Stockings and shirts were changed once a week, and underwear just once a fortnight. "This fundamental disregard for personal attention inevitably generates insecurity, instability and an amoral concern for the private property of others. This I consider to be a causative factor in the habits of stealing frequently encountered among ex-pupils."
"In Artane, the hob-nail boots heavy burdensome material are as much a feature of summer attire as of winter," he noted.
As for diet, Fr Moore felt the boys were reasonably well fed, although essentials such as butter and fruit were never provided. "In general, I feel that the boys are undernourished and lacking calcium and other components."
Fr Moore criticised the "indifference" of Department of Education inspectors to the seriously inadequate medical facilities in the school and likened the "dreary stone-flagged and depressing" surgical dressing room to "a vacated dairy house".
Bedwetting was common even among older boys and "nothing is done to remedy their condition". There was also criticism of the manner in which boys were admitted "indiscriminately, without regard to their background, medical history, antecedents or suitability for the training which they are to receive.
"The very structure of the school is in dilapidated condition, colourless and uninspiring, and reflects the interior spirit.
"The atmosphere is somewhat unreal, particularly in regard to lack of contact with the opposite sex, and this unnatural situation in a group of 450 boys plus a staff of 40 men invariably leads to a degree of sexual maladjustment in the boys."
Fr Moore compared Artane to the male-only preserve of the Greek Orthodox Church at Mount Athos: "The boys seem to be denied the opportunity of developing friendly and spontaneous characters: their impulses become suffocated and when they are suddenly liberated their reactions are often violent and irresponsible".
Fr Moore said the management methods of the school were obsolete and there was "no attempt at rehabilitation".