It would not be fair comment to say there was a culture of excessive punishment and systematic abuse at Artane industrial school, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was told yesterday.
Brother Michael Reynolds, deputy provincial of the Christian Brothers, St Mary's (northern) province, said some Brothers there never used corporal punishment while others did regularly.
However, he said that "in the round, it was the same as the others [institutions]."
He said there had been six instances of Brothers who sexually abused boys at Artane, with "five prior to 1944". He rejected suggestions by counsel for some of the complainants, Marcus Dowling, that Artane was seen by Brothers posted there as "a dumping ground" or "punishment". Br Reynolds said "the vast majority of Brothers would not accept it" nor would he.
For the 400 boys at the school there were 12 staff who had no qualifications except teacher training in Marino, Mr Dowling said."To err is human. Was human nature stretched to its limit at Artane?" he asked.
Br Reynolds said that as well as the principal and 11 teachers, there were 17 other Brothers there doing specific jobs with three or four more Brothers who had retired.
Queried on the Brothers' knowledge of recidivism where child abusers were concerned, Br Reynolds said that though recidivism was talked about nowadays, it was virtually unheard of in those days. "An understanding of recidivism was not prevalent among the Brothers or anybody at the time," he said.
Referring to specific cases where Brothers who repeatedly offended had received canonical warnings from superiors, Mr Dowling dismissed Br Reynolds' observation as "poppycock" and said the Brothers "clearly knew people did it [ abuse] as a compulsion."
Br Reynolds agreed with Mr Fred Lowe of the committee that cases involving such offenders were dealt with so discreetly colleagues in the same community would not have been aware.
He accepted the Garda had never been informed about any of the incidents of abuse and he could not say why. Asked by commission chairman Justice Seán Ryan whether the interests of the institution might have been put before the interests of justice and the child, he replied, "it may well have been".
Br Reynolds will continue to answer questions before the committee this morning.
