St Joseph’s Industrial School, generally referred to as Ferryhouse, is located four kilometres east of

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

, in

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The original building was erected in 1884 by

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Arthur Moore, a wealthy local

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

reformatory A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concern ...

for boys. Shortly after its construction, Moore invited the

Rosminians The Rosminians, officially named the Institute of Charity (), abbreviated I.C., are a Catholic Church, Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded by Antonio Rosmini-Serbati, Antonio Rosmini and first organise ...

to run the school.

History

Arthur John Moore was an enthusiastic supporter of the new Industrial Schools as an alternative to the detention of children in

Workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...

s. However, his motives for establishing Ferryhouse may not have been entirely altruistic. At this time he was running for Parliament and the building of the school, which had widespread popular support, was completed just in time for the 1880 General election. Moore was successfully returned to

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

for the Home Rule Party. In January 1885, a Certificate was granted by the State for the school to receive 150 boys and in 1944 this Certificate was increased to 200. The numbers in Ferryhouse ranged from 189 boys in 1940, increasing to a high of 205 in 1960. This number decreased to 160 in 1970. There were between 150 and 200 boys in Ferryhouse until the 1970s. Thereafter, the numbers began to gradually decline but until the 1980s, the numbers were far in excess of the certified number.

Scandal

Like many residential institutions in the country, in 2009, following publication of the

Ryan report The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was one of a range of measures introduced by the Irish Government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children from 1936 onwards. Commencing its work in 1999, it was commonly known ...

, Ferryhouse was finally recognised as a place of systematic physical and

sexual abuse of children Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whe ...

carried on over a period of many years. Michael O'Brien, a survivor of abuse and a former pupil of the school, spoke on Questions and Answers of how he suffered horrendous physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the Rosminians, and how it affected him to this day. (including transcript).

References

Sources

St Joseph’s Industrial School, (‘Ferryhouse’), 1885–1999
extract from

Ryan Report The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was one of a range of measures introduced by the Irish Government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children from 1936 onwards. Commencing its work in 1999, it was commonly known ...

resulting from Laffoy Commission.
St. Joseph's, Ferryhouse - Official site
*
''Task force on child care services: final report to the Minister for Health''
Dept. of Health, Ireland, Stationery Office, 1980. *

External links

Catholic Encyclopaedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

RTÉ radio documentary. "The Runners"
- is about Jemmy Gunnery - a Dublin man who helped break children out of and escape from state industrial schools during the 1960s. Focus on Ferryhouse. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's Industrial School, Ferryhouse Boys' schools in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in Clonmel Education in County Tipperary Industrial schools in the Republic of Ireland Youth detention centers Violence against men in Europe

History

Scandal

See also

References

Sources

External links