On Tuesday we learned that almost 2,400 allegations of sexual abuse in 308 schools run by religious orders over a 30-year period have been disclosed to a Government-appointed inquiry.
The scoping inquiry’s report detailed a systemic culture of abuse in religious-run day and boarding schools throughout the country.
Some 2,395 allegations of abuse were reported against 884 people. Of those accused of abuse, less than half are still alive, according to the report.
The inquiry also revealed that a high number of allegations are concentrated in special education schools, where there were 590 allegations recorded in 17 institutions involving 190 alleged abusers.
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Most of the reported incidents of abuse took place between the early 1960s and early 1990s, with the highest number of reported incidents occurring in the early to mid-1970s.
Respondents to the questionnaire described being “molested, stripped naked, raped and drugged amid an atmosphere of terror and silence”, the report said. Participants in the inquiry spoke of how the abuse evoked “feelings of shame, responsibility, isolation, powerlessness and secrecy”.
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