More than 2,000 children told a ten year-long official inquiry that they were physically, sexually and mentally abused while in care or attending ordinary schools run by Catholic bodies.
The allegations date back to the 1940's, but run up to the 1980's. Many of those said to have been responsible are now dead.
The Irish government-ordered inquiry, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, is expected to strong criticize the handling of abuse complaints by the Catholic church.
The Commission has described the attitude of the Church towards its work as adversarial and legalistic.'
Among the religious orders whose work was investigated were the Sisters of Mercy, responsible for the largest number of children's institutions, the Christian Brothers, which ran schools for boys aged 10 to 16, the Presentation Sisters and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge. Several are expected to be explicitly criticized by the inquiry, headed by Justice Sean Ryan.
The first head of the Commission, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy resigned in protest at a lack of co-operation by the Irish department of education. It was set up in 1999 when the allegations first surfaced.
Many of the institutions housed abandoned or neglected children, but courts also sent those guilty of truancy and petty crime. Some also housed disabled children.
Unmarried mothers were also sent to institutions known as Magdalene Laundries, many by their own families, where they were forced into hard physical work, usually washing and ironing clothes, and lived in spartan, prison-like conditions.
An estimated 35,000 children passed through the institutions during the decades under scrutiny.
In an interim report in 2003, hundreds of those interviewed described being beaten on 'every part of their body,' often with leather strap. Many said that beatings were administered in public and that they were sometimes made to remove all their clothing. Some punishments were said to be handed out for talking at mealtimes or writing left handed.
Those who attended Christian Brothers schools have claimed they were sexually abused on a daily basis by both staff and older boys.
It is estimated the five-volume 2,500 page report cost the Irish state 70 million euro to produce.
The victim's organization, Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, said the report came after a long and arduous wait' for what it termed the victims of the cruel industrial school-system operated by Catholic religious orders and the Department of Education'.
- More about:
- Children's Rights
- Educational Authorities
- Irish Sea