In a second article defending Catholic institutions against allegations in the RTE States of Fear series, Father John Dardis has criticised the State for lack of funding. It contributed to the harsh conditions endured by children in such institutions, he writes.
In Link-Up, a magazine published in the Dublin archdiocese where he is communications director, Father Dardis says the first programme in the series claimed Catholic institutions received sufficient money from the State and that it was stated in the programme that "some at least may not have spent the money provided by the State on the children in their care".
It also said the explanation that the Catholic Church had to go to its already impoverished community to fund its initiatives in social outreach had to be re-examined, he recalls.
In making such claims the programme made no reference to the findings of the Kennedy report (1970) on the funding of the schools, Father Dardis writes. The report said ". . . the managers in charge of the schools were faced with the task of running the institutions on a totally inadequate financial provision and were forced to supplement their incomes by whatever means possible to enable their work to continue".
It was not clear how Judge Kennedy arrived at this conclusion, Father Dardis notes, and writes that it would be helpful if relevant notes and minutes were made available. However, the report's analysis was accepted by the Government, he writes. In 1969, just before the report's publication, "the Government doubled the capitation grant available for each resident at the schools . . ."
This State and local authority unwillingness to provide for vulnerable children was not a new phenomenon, he says. In 1936 the Cussen report criticised local authorities for their unwillingness to provide financial support for children on the margins.
It concluded: "Most of the local authorities were unwilling to contribute even towards the maintenance of the children and as the Treasury grant was insufficient for the building and equipment of such schools their establishment was a matter of some difficulty. As a result, various religious orders were requested to undertake the work . . ."
Father Dardis writes that States of Fear mentioned some schools had received as much as £1 million in today's money. That was for Artane, a school with 800 pupils, he says, where, as in other industrial schools, the orders and congregations had to pay for the children for 52 weeks a year with no capitation grant for those over six and under 16 and no extra funding for secondary schooling or for the provision of tuition in other subjects.
"In addition the orders and congregations had to provide most if not all the capital and building costs," he writes. In Britain meanwhile the state funded all building costs. It also paid a higher capitation grant.
Christian Brothers figures for 1950 showed that whereas they received 30 shilling a week per child at the time, in Britain the figure was £5 4s 9d per child, while in the North it was £4.
The claim by States of Fear that funding received by the schools was adequate, and its suggestion that funds provided by the State may not have been used for the benefit of the children, seemed "at least questionable", Father Dardis writes.
"But we can and we must examine in a serious manner how and why children at industrial schools endured such a harsh regime and why they endured such trauma and suffering. It is up to both church and State to examine these questions," he says.
He also says he believed there was "an urgent need to examine existing institutions in our society in order to ensure that there are not similar abuses happening in our prisons, with the homeless, the handicapped, the disabled, the elderly, with refugees and with other vulnerable groups".
