LAST UPDATE | 19 Nov 2022

THE TAOISEACH HAS confirmed that there will be an inquiry into allegations of abuse by members of the Spiritans order, in Blackrock College and elsewhere.

Micheál Martin said today that the government will engage with victims to determine what the inquiry will look like.

Speaking to reporters today, Martin said: “We have to identify the best way forward in a victim-led way.

“I think inevitably, that means some form of inquiry would have to be established here. We’d have to take on board the views of victims, and also identify the most effective way to conduct an inquiry.”

It emerged last week that 233 people had made allegations of abuse against 77 Irish Spiritans in ministries throughout Ireland and abroad. Of those, 57 people alleged they were abused on the Blackrock College campus.

Further allegations of sexual abuse in schools run by religious orders have emerged in recent days, including in Castleknock College in Dublin, which is run by the Vincentian Community.

In a statement to The Journal, the religious order said that over the last 15 years, it has received allegations of abuse from former students of Castleknock College, St. Patrick’s College in Armagh, St Paul’s in Raheny and St Peter’s National School in Phibsborough.

When asked whether an inquiry would be limited to Blackrock College and the Spiritans, Martin said: “These are the issues we’re going we will have to examine.

“A module-based approach might be the most effective and timely,” he said. “I’m very anxious that whatever we do, we have the best interests of victims in mind.”

The Spiritan Congregation, formerly the Holy Ghost Fathers, has given a public apology to victims, and announced that an independent group would engage with survivors of abuse at schools and institutions decades ago.

Former Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said today that some of the abusers “should never have been teachers.”

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One, he said the number of allegations from Blackrock College were “frightening”.

“The numbers were frightening because they were all in the one institution and a very prestigious institution, and here were perpetrators who eat with one another, who lived with one another, who knew one another.

“I don’t know at any particular moment how many horrendous abusers lived together at any one time in that community. It’s hard to fathom.

“Some of these men were extraordinarily violent men … Some of these people should never have been teachers and certainly they should never have been allowed to be teachers in a boarding school.

“On reflection, boarding school is obviously a place where you need double protection.”