Industrial schools (, ) were established in Ireland under the Industrial Schools (Ireland) Act 1868 to care for "neglected, orphaned and abandoned children". By 1884, there were 5,049 children in such institutions throughout the country. The Act was superseded by the Children Act 1908.
Today in the Republic of Ireland, children may still be detained in protective custody. The nomenclature has changed from "industrial schools" and "reformatory schools" to "children detention schools". There are five such institutions in the State. The equivalent institution in Northern Ireland is the Juvenile Justice Centre at Rathgael, near Bangor. It is now Northern Ireland's only children's detention centre following the closure of St Patrick's in Belfast and Lisnevin in Millisle (formerly known as Training Schools).
History
The first industrial school in Ireland was set up by Lady Louisa Conolly in Celbridge, County Kildare, where young boys learnt woodwork and shoe making skills as well as other trade skills.
Establishment of reformatories and industrial schools
Reformatory schools had been established in 1858 under a Poor Law amendment. Ten years later Industrial Schools were introduced by the Industrial Schools (Ireland) Act of 1868, four years after the equivalent in England. An 'upgraded' Reformatory Act was also introduced that year. Ironically, children charged with begging could not benefit under the terms of the original 1858 Act and were still being sent to adult prisons, but young burglars were being sent to the more benign 'special school'.
The next few decades found there was a building boom to provide new premises for both types of institution. Reformatories were intended for children found guilty of criminal offences, while Industrial Schools were for orphaned neglected and abandoned children and those considered in danger of contact with criminality. This latter category had previously been accommodated in so called "Ragged Schools" (such as the one at the Coombe in Dublin), and in the countrywide network of Workhouses.
Many private philanthropic schools were granted certificates as reformatories or industrial schools for the reception of children committed by the courts. After certification, they became eligible for grants from public money in proportion to the number of children catered for.
Although reformatory schools were established first, Industrial Schools soon surpassed them, both in numbers of schools and of pupils. Between 1851 and 1858, ten reformatories (five each for boys and girls) were certified. The 1868 Act insured that Protestant and Catholic children would be catered for separately, preventing proselytising.
Industrial schools reached a maximum of 71 in 1898. Of the 61 in what is now the Republic of Ireland, 56 schools were Catholic-run and five were Protestant-run. Of the ten in what is now Northern Ireland, six were Catholic-run and four Protestant-run. Of the nine Protestant industrial schools in Ireland, five were for girls and four for boys.
By 1900, only seven of the ten original reformatories remained. In 1917 the last industrial school run by the Church of Ireland (Anglican) was closed in Stillorgan. A number of the reformatories were re-certified as industrial schools so that by 1922, only five remained (one of which was a reformatory for boys in Northern Ireland).
Statistics
The reformatory school population, which was nearly 800 immediately after the passing of the 1858 Act, fell to 300 in 1882, and to 150 in 1900. However, by 1875, there were 50 industrial schools, and the highest number of industrial schools was reached in 1898, when there were a total of 71 schools, of which 61 (56 schools for Catholics and five for Protestants) were in the 26 counties.
According to the Ryan report, the Department of Education and Skills has calculated the number of children discharged from Industrial Schools and Reformatories from 1930 to the 1970s as approximately 42,000. As the format of the statistical report changed during the 1970s, the population of the schools, which was well in decline by then, is given as an estimate only.
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in Ireland
Child abuse investigation (Ireland) The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was established in 2000 with functions including the investigation of abuse of children in institutions in the State. It was dependent on people giving evidence which they did in large numbers.