Sr Stan apologises for order’s abuse in Kilkenny

By Naoise Coogan

Sr Stanislaus Kennedy who campaigns for social justice has apologised to children who were abused while under the care of the Sisters of Charity who ran two Kilkenny-based institutions named in the recently published Ryan Report.

Sister Stan, a member of the Sisters of Charity religious order criticised in the devastating report, told a conference in Dublin Castle “Justice and the Downturn: Sharing the Vision of Mary Aikenhead in Today’s World”, that members were ashamed, shocked, and horrified by the physical and sexual abuse of children at its facilities.

The social justice campaigner publicly condemned the appalling manner in which the most vulnerable children were treated in institutions run by congregations over the past 50 years including those run by the Sisters of Charity.

She said, The Ryan Report outlined severe physical and emotional abuse over many years at two of the order's institutions, St Patrick's and St Joseph's in Kilkenny.

“Two of our institutions, St Patrick’s and St Joseph’s in Kilkenny, were investigated by the Ryan Commission, which found that, within them, there was severe punishment and physical and emotional abuse of children over many years.

“Within St Joseph’s, there was also sexual abuse, including where 13 boys were brutally abused, sexually and physically, by two men employed by the Religious Sisters of Charity as childcare workers, who turned out to be cruel and ferocious paedophiles.

“I am desperately sad and sorry that these abuses took place and that these heinous crimes were committed.

“All over the country, children entrusted to the care of religious congregations, ours included, suffered enormously in a sickening abuse of power and position and a scandalous exploitation of vulnerability, for which there is no excuse.”

Sr Stan said the first duty of the Sisters of Charity is to acknowledge the hurt they have collectively caused the children who were abused while in their care, and this is being done.

“Our next duty is to do everything in our power to make reparation for the harm done, to alleviate their pain and suffering, and to restore, as far as is possible, the dignity that was taken from them as children. This includes facing our financial responsibilities in a generous spirit and with an open heart,” she said.

“We must also ensure that wide-scale and systematic abuse of children does not happen again in this country. Abuse happens when power is vested in individuals and institutions who are unaccountable.”

Sr Stan said the current child-care system in Ireland is disgracefully inadequate.

“There is no out-of-hours social work service for children in need, the Government has confirmed that 6,500 child protection cases have not been allocated a social worker, and about 800 children leave State care every year with no after care or no statutory right to it,” she said.

“One of the most damning indications of our lack of concern about the welfare of children is the fact that 454 migrant children – that’s equivalent to an entire schoolful of children – have gone missing from the care of the State since 2000, with barely a ripple of disquiet in the community. We know this is happening and we don’t care.

“How can we say without blushing that we are determined to learn lessons from the Ryan Report and are determined to protect and cherish children in this country when we know they are suffering now? When we allow these outrages to occur without protest we, as a society, are complicit in the suffering of these children.

“Children in the past were abused because they were considered to have no value. They were demonised as illegitimate or troublesome or simply poor, and this made it possible for society to collude in their abuse.

“The child-care system that we have today for our most vulnerable children will continue to be inadequate until we change our attitude to the children it serves.

“We have always seen children who are in need of State care as other people’s children. Until we see them as our children, we will never cherish them equally, and we will never have a quality child-care system that provides for their needs adequately and as a right,” concluded Sr Stan.

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