Ireland: Scoping Inquiry finds 2,395 allegations of historical sexual abuse across 308 schools run by 24 religious orders

Proceedings

1. 2024-09-03 · official-finding

   Scoping Inquiry (Government-appointed), submitted to the Minister for Education, Ireland. The Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools Run by Religious Orders, submitted to the Minister for Education on 7 June 2024 and approved for publication by government on 3 September 2024, documented 2,395 allegations of historical sexual abuse at 308 schools run by religious orders, naming over 80 schools across at least 22 counties and involving 884 alleged abusers from 24 religious orders. The abuse was reported mainly between the early 1960s and early 1990s, peaking in the early-to-mid 1970s. A disproportionate concentration — 590 allegations across 17 institutions involving 190 alleged abusers — was found at special-education schools. The inquiry's principal recommendation was establishment of a statutory Commission of Investigation, alongside consideration of a survivor redress scheme funded in part by the religious orders themselves.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• clerical and professed-religious office within schools the orders themselves ran, including boarding structures at special-education institutions where abuse was disproportionately concentrated