Carriglea Park

Carriglea Park was an industrial school in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland. The Christian Brothers purchased the property in 1893.

It was first certified as an industrial school in 1894 and started operating in 1896. It was operated as a residential training school for boys. Carriglea Park is located in Kill O'The Grange in south County Dublin, at the junction of Kill Avenue and Rochestown Avenue. The site is now the location of the Quadrangle Building in the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, a third-level institute of technology with over 2000 students.

History
The property originally consisted of the 'Ruby Hall' mansion and 40 acres of land, which was increased to 60 acre with the purchase of a nearby farm. In 1946, additional land was purchased  for a secondary school. The 1946 addition nearly doubled the size of Carriglea Park, now controlling 115 acre.

The idea behind establishing Carriglea was that it would be "Artane on a small scale".

The mansion was used as a residence for the Christian Brothers and a separate building was built for the dormitory, dining room, kitchen, and classrooms.

Closure
The school officially closed on June 30,1954.

When the Christian Brothers decided to close Carriglea Park, citing that admissions to St Joseph's Industrial School, Letterfrack would be restricted to boys whose offenses would have resulted in a prison sentence for an adult. This was strongly opposed by the Department of Education, Department of Justice, and members of the judiciary, but the brothers were adamant and went ahead with the plan.

The Dún Laoghaire College of Art and Design moved to the site in the early 1980s, expanding into the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in 1997, with several more buildings constructed over the years.

Physical abuse
The Commission concluded that when discipline had broken down, the Congregation approved the appointment of a man known to practice excessive corporal punishment and that they considered this an appropriate approach.

Sexual abuse
The Commission concluded that there was a problem with abuse of boys by other boys. They noted that a brother had been transferred from Artane Industrial school to Carriglea after concerns had been expressed about his friendship with a particular boy in Artane – this was condemned as "ill-judged and dangerous".

Two specific brothers were noted as having histories of abuse. They were given the pseudonyms Brother Tristan and Brother Lancelin.

Brother Tristan was probably known to be an abuser by the General Council, but was moved on and kept employed in the industrial school system. He had committed offenses at Carriglea and Marino. The Commission found that the records of the General Council showed that they regarded his offenses as being much more serious than the submission to the commission by the Christian Brothers had indicated.

Brother Lancelin's offenses were serious enough to be described with language that would be used for criminal offenses, contradicting the submission made by the congregation to the commission. The Commission described one offense in particular as a "serious case of sexual abuse". Unusually for the 1940s, the boys made written statements about the abuse.

Emotional abuse and neglect
Carriglea Park was "dilapidated and run-down" for most of the period of the Commissions remit.

Boys were badly clothed and went barefoot in the summer despite adequate funds being available.

Education and trades
Primary school education at Carriglea appears to have been of a relatively high standard.

The Commission praised the practice of preparing boys for the Postal Office exam, but regretted that the practice of sending brighter boys to the Christian Brothers secondary school in Dún Laoghaire was discontinued.

Trades were for the benefit of the institution, not the boys, and only two were offered apart from farming. Boys in Carriglea were not provided with work skills for after their time in the school.

General conclusions
The congregation had adequate funds to provide reasonable care for the boys sent to Carriglea, but didn't do so. The Congregation made considerable profit from closing Carriglea Park but did not use it to benefit boys.

Chronic mismanagement and a harsh regime caused abuse.

Discipline was enforced by harsh and violent means to introduce order, with no regard for the boys' welfare.

Sexual abuse by two brothers was noted.

Primary education was good, but trade preparation was poor.