Library Guides: Ireland: Institutional Abuse: Child Abuse

Abuse of Minors: Abuse by Religious or in Schools.

Ryan Report: The Commission to Inquire Inquire into Child Abuse
Ireland. Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, 2009.
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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.
The report, generally known as the Ryan Report, is available along with Commission documents, in multiple PDFs, at the Commission website.
See also the Industrial Memories database.
Report by Commission of Investigation into Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin (Murphy Report)
Ireland: Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, 2009.
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Also archived at Lenus and the Internet Archive: http://www.lenus.ie/hse/handle/10147/89453
https://web.archive.org/web/20170829232859/http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB09000504

Report by Commission of Investigation into Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin (Murphy Report). Ireland: Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, 2009.
http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB09000504
Also archived at Lenus and the Internet Archive: http://www.lenus.ie/hse/handle/10147/89453
https://web.archive.org/web/20170829232859/http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB09000504

Report into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation. Ireland. Dept. of Justice and Equality. Dublin: The Commission, 2010
http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Cloyne-Rpt
Archived on Lenus, the Irish Health Repository: http://www.lenus.ie/hse/handle/10147/142058

The Ferns Report by Francis D. Murphy; Helen Buckley; Laraine Joyce; Ireland, Dept. of Health and Children
Call Number: KDK 1771 .S49 F47 2005
ISBN: 0755772997
Publication Date: 2005
Digitized copy: https://archive.org/details/243711-2-complete-ferns-report-so-ireland/mode/2up

Abuse by Religious -- Books

Can I Stay in the Catholic Church by Brian Lennon
Call Number: BV 4392.5 .L46 2012
ISBN: 9781856077538
Publication Date: 2013-06-11
A look at the future of the Catholic Church through current anger over child abuse as well as the author's struggles of faith. The Church's founding in the scriptures is studied in hopes that if the Church changed in the past, it can change in the future. The author acknowledges the Church's need to repent. Lennon also suggests that the path to healing will involve deeply divided people within the Church learning how to speak to each other about issues such as the ordination of women, clerical power, and a monarchical papacy.
A Time to Listen by Helen Goode; Hannah McGee; Ciaran O'Boyle; Thomas G. Plante (Foreword by)
Call Number: BX 1912.9 .G66 2003
ISBN: 1904148387
Publication Date: 2004-04-19
Foreword by Thomas G. Plante. First major book on this controversial topic. Groundbreaking, comprehensive... a remarkable accomplishment.-Thomas G. Plante, University of Santa Clara/Stanford University. This book is a major assessment of clerical s
Haunting Cries by Karen Coleman
Call Number: HV 757 .A6 C65 2010
ISBN: 9780717147922
Publication Date: 2010-10-01
Haunting Cries chronicles 11 stories of institutional child abuse in the survivors' own words. It brings the tragic tale of abuse up to date to include the publication and fall-out from the Ryan Commission Report and the Redress Board. The book also adds a fresh -- post-Ryan -- perspective on why the religious orders engaged in such systemic abuse. Up until the Ryan Report, most of them were reluctant to admit to the scale of abuse that their orders meted out to the children in their care. Haunting Cries investigates how they dealt with the damning indictments against them. The stories of the survivors take into account that new perspective. We hear their views on whether the Ryan Commission and the Redress Board have adequately given them the compensation, vindication and justice they feel they deserve. Haunting Cries is an important book. It gives these survivors a voice, allowing us to hear the testimonies of those who for so long were silenced.
The End of Innocence by Kevin Lalor (Editor)
Call Number: HV 6570.4 .I73 E53 2001
ISBN: 1860762204
Publication Date: 2001-11-01
Since the 1990s there has been numerous high profile child abuse cases, some involving members of the clergy and others occuring in institutions for children in care. A problem that was once seldom or never discussed is now very much in the public arena. This book describes a number of the scandals uncovered during the 1990s and the reactions to those scandals. It then goes on to describe the treatments available for victims of abuse, as well as for the perpetrators. The book concludes that Irish society's innocence may be gone, but that could be a good thing if it means children can be better protected and treated in the future.
The Irish Gulag: How the State Betrayed its Innocent Children by Bruce Arnold
Call Number: HV 9148 .A5 A76 2009
ISBN: 9780717146147
Publication Date: 2009

Unheard Story: Dublin Archdiocese and the Murphy Report by Pádraig McCarthy
Call Number: BX 1912.9 .M33 2013
ISBN: 1907535357
Publication Date: 2013
All the Bishops' Men by Tom Mooney
Call Number: BX 1912.9 .M66 2011
ISBN: 1848890990
Publication Date: 2011-08-03
Finally the lid is lifted on how a group of priests in Wexford were able to abuse children over a thirty-year period. This is a searing indictment of the Catholic Church and the society that spawned and protected the abusers.
A Message from Heaven by Allison O'Connor
Call Number: BX 1912.9 .O25 2000
ISBN: 0863222706
Publication Date: 2000-09-01
In the long list of Irish paedophile priests Father Sean Fortune occupies a pre-eminent position as is shown in this powerful investigation into his life by one of Ireland's most outstanding journalists. Sexual abuse of children was his worst crime, but far from his only one. A master manipulator, capable of incredible charm, he lied, cheated, bullied and abused leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Fortune avoided trial by committing suicide in March 1999 but he left behind many victims - not least the eight young men who had come forward.
Betrayal of Trust: The Brendan Smyth Affair and the Catholic Church by Chris Moore; Kevin Hegarth (Foreword by)
Call Number: BX 4705 .S6632 M667 1995
ISBN: 186023027X
Publication Date: 1996-05-01
Crimes Worse Than Death by Kate Shanahan
Call Number: HV 6250.4 .W65 S53 1992
ISBN: 1855940531
Publication Date: 1992
An examination and feminist analysis of the surge of unprovoked violent attacks on women and children in Ireland including battering, incest and rape.
Dark Secrets of Childhood: Media Power, Child Abuse and Public Scandals by Fred W. Powell and Margaret Scanlon
Call Number: HV 6570.4 .I73 P69 2015
ISBN: 1447317866
Publication Date: 2015
Breaking the Silence by Martin Ridge; Gerard Cunningham
Call Number: HV 6570.4 .I73 R54 2008
ISBN: 9780717143979
Publication Date: 2008
Martin Ridge was approaching retirement after a long career with An Garda Síochána. Posted to a quiet corner of Co. Donegal, he found himself investigating one of the most horrific series of child sex abuse cases in Ireland. At Christmas 1997 a local priest Fr Eugene Greene reported to the Gardaí that a man had tried to blackmail him. His hubris set in motion a Garda investigation which revealed him as a serial child sex abuser for decades. As word of the investigation spread, 26 men came forward. Most were from the tiny Gaeltacht parish of Gort an Choirce. All had been abused by Greene as children. Soon after, another man came forward to say that he had been sexually abused by local schoolteacher Denis McGinley. As Ridge dug deeper, he discovered that McGinley had been systematically abusing children in his classroom for decades. He had at least 50 victims. The Greene and McGinley cases both involved the Catholic Church. Greene was a priest, and McGinley a teacher in a Catholic school answerable to religious managers. As Ridge investigated, he discovered that the Church knew about the abuse, but ignored the problem. Breaking the Silence is a brilliantly written account of the Garda investigation that brought two serial and unrepentant abusers to justice.
Suffer the Little Children: The Inside Story of Ireland's Industrial Schools by Mary Raftery and Eoin O'Sullivan
Call Number: HV 9148 .A5 R33 1999
ISBN: 1874597839
Publication Date: 2000
The aftermath of a major Irish documentary, that shook the nation's conscience and that brought further revelations from victims of institutionalized abuse, this book is the first to explore in detail Ireland's industrial school system and to uncover the rampant child abuse present in it.
Beyond Belief by Colm O'Gorman
Call Number: RC 569.5 .A28 O36 2009
ISBN: 0340925051
Publication Date: 2009

Catholic Church Perspective

Catholic Church Perspective:

Conway, Eamonn, Eugene Duffy, Attracta Shelds. The church and child sexual abuse: Towards a pastoral response. Dublin: Columba, 1999.
Hesburgh Library General Collection (BX 1912.9 .C48 1999 )

Irish Catholic Bishops' Advisory Committee on Child Sexual Abuse by Priests and Religious. Child sexual abuse: Framework for a church response. Dublin: Veritas, 1996.
Hesburgh Library General Collection (BX 1912.9 .C455 1996 )

Flannery, Tony. Responding to the Ryan Report. Dublin: Columba Press c2009.
Hesburgh Library General Collection (BX 1912.9 .R47 2009 )

Littleton, John, and Eamon Maher. The Dublin/ Murphy Report: A Watershed for Irish Catholicism. Dublin: Columba, 2010.
Hesburgh Library General Collection (BX 1912.9 .D83 2010 )

Personal Histories

Personal Stories:

Madden, Andrew. Altar Boy: A Story of Life After Abuse. London: Penguin Ireland, 2003.
Hesburgh Library General Collection (RC 569.5 .C55 M34 2003 )

Clemenger, Michael. Holy Terrors: A Boy, Two Brothers, A Stolen Childhood. Dublin: O'Brien, 2009,
Hesburgh Library General Collection (RC 569.5 .A28 C475 2009)

Egan, Kevin. Remaining a Catholic after the Murphy Report. Dublin: Columba, 2011.
Hesburgh Library General Collection (BX 1912.9 .E38 2011 )

Rogers-Moloney, Marie Therese. For the Sins of My Mother. Newtownards: Colourpoint, 2014.
Hesburgh Library General Collection (HV 1150.3 .R64 2014 )

Boland, Brendan. Sworn to silence : a young boy, an abusive priest, a buried truth. Dublin: O'Brien Press, 2014.
Hesburgh Library General Collection (BX 1912.9 .B65 2014 )

Touher, Patrick. Fear of the collar : my terrifying childhood in Artane. Dublin: O'Brien, 2001.
Hesburgh Library General Collection (T 173 .D8 A788 2001 )