New historic abuse policy is welcome, but it is just the first step

RTÉ News​

6 days ago

I don't usually include a personal perspective when writing stories - but this is the exception.
Back in 1978, as a 10-year-old child, I was battered by my 4th-class teacher who slapped, punched and kicked me around the prefab cloakroom in a prolonged attack.
This wasn't corporal punishment, which was finally outlawed in 1982. This was an assault.
Terrified, bruised and sore, I didn't know what to do.
I felt there was no point in speaking to the school authorities, as children were regularly being hit.
Mistakenly fearing that I may have been in some way responsible for provoking the teacher, I decided against telling my parents either.
Having been on the receiving end of this violence, I took a keen interest when the Department of Education updated guidance to schools late last month.
The policy - Child Protection Procedures for Schools, 2025 - is an update on its original 2017 document.
One of the key innovations is, for the first time, to provide explicit guidance to schools on how they should deal with former pupils presenting with a claim of historic abuse.
Such advice is clearly needed given the scale of horror which unfolded over the decades in Irish primary and secondary schools.
Just last September, a Government-appointed inquiry into historical abuse at schools concluded that there were 2,395 allegations of sexual abuse in respect of 308 schools recorded by the religious orders that ran those schools.
The content is grim, particularly when it comes to victims' testimonies - so much so that the public is warned: "Reading these accounts of abuse may be extraordinarily difficult."
One participant to the inquiry testified: "The teacher's domination of the schoolchildren included sexual harassment in confessional encounters outside class, but during school hours. This included humiliating one-to-one costume fittings, full blown sexual assault, and drugging and raping multiple students."
"I didn't cry, that in itself was a signal for him to carry on beating you and he done so...
It later emerged that some of those who contacted the scoping inquiry team, about the alleged physical abuse that they had endured, were informed that their complaints fell outside the terms of reference.
Many turned to RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline to highlight their stories of being whipped, beaten and kicked.
In October 2024, RTÉ screened the documentary 'Leathered' which highlighted the different types of insidious physical abuse inflicted on children in our schools.
Peter Kane from Navan in Co Meath recalled the fear and anxiety that he experienced going to school as a 12-year-old and the alleged abuse he endured.
He said: "I didn't cry, that in itself was a signal for him to carry on beating you and he done so, and bounced my head off the blackboard, bounced my body around the room, knocked me up against his desk, and at one stage, I collapsed and fell on the ground because he done something to my back."
With such a catalogue of predatory violence, it is highly likely that victims might, later in life, present themselves at our schools out-of-the-blue.
One in Four, which helps adults who have experienced abuse as a child, state that many choose to contact their former school as a first port of call.
Accordingly, it is more than appropriate to have teachers prepared for such a scenario.
"Child Protection Procedures for Schools, 2025" seeks to do that in Section 3, which is entitled: Retrospective Abuse Allegations.
On page 29, it states: "The member of school personnel will need tact and sensitivity in responding to such a disclosure."
The document continues: "It is important to be empathetic and express understanding that it may have taken a considerable effort for the person to disclose the past abuse."
Schools are advised that a person presenting with a historical abuse claim should be provided with details for the Garda National Protective Services Bureau.
They should also be given contact numbers for helplines such as the Rape Crisis Centre; Towards Healing; the National Counselling Service; One in Four; Connect Counselling; and the Samaritans.
The forward to the document is written by Minister for Education Helen McEntee, however, much of the policy had been shepherded through by former minister for education Norma Foley; former Minister of State Josepha Madigan; and senior officials at the Department of Education.
Minister McEntee wrote that the new policy document also identifies "requirements [on schools] to report retrospective abuse".
If a school is informed of historic abuse, it needs to be more than just be empathetic to the victim.
Schools are obliged to outline that they do not have an investigative role and, under certain circumstances, may have to notify the child and family agency Tusla or An Garda Síochána.
One clear advantage for the victims is that the new policy gives an individual a right of recourse should an individual school fail to live up to its specified obligations.
"For survivors, reaching out like this is often a big emotional step. The way the school responds really matters..
The new policy will now be studied in detail by groups representing those who have experienced physical and sexual abuse in schools.
Chief Executive of One in Four Deirdre Kenny described the new guidance to me as a positive step forward.
She said: "For survivors, reaching out like this is often a big emotional step. The way the school responds really matters - it can make a big difference in how supported and understood they feel.
"That's why it's so important for schools to have clear, compassionate guidance on how to handle these situations."
She added: "However, there is an obvious gap in the guidelines: they do not currently include context about why survivors might get in touch with a school - whether for acknowledgement, support, or to protect current students. Including this information would be really helpful, as it would enable staff to respond with even greater understanding and sensitivity."
Chief Executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre Rachel Morrogh said the policy appears to take a victim-centred approach to meeting disclosures, which is very welcome.
However, she said: "That approach must be embedded clearly, with appropriate training and resourcing, so that teachers and educators can handle disclosures sensitively and with as little re-traumatisation as possible.
"A young person might tell someone about their experience, but if the trusted person doesn't know how to sensitively meet a disclosure, it could mean that the child might experience further shame and isolation and be retraumatised."
She added: "While child abuse is often viewed as being a historical issue, those working on the frontlines of supporting survivors of sexual violence can tell you that it is very much still happening in Ireland today.
"We must ensure our young people are protected and supported to the full extent necessary, and a strong child protection policy in schools is an important component of that."
One in Four and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre view the new policy as a welcome first step - but just that: a first step.