AP:
A fiercely debated, nine-year investigation into Ireland’s Roman Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorized thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades — and that government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation.
High Court Justice Sean Ryan on Wednesday unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland’s Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, which is based on testimony from thousands of former students and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions.
BBC:
John Walsh, of Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, said he felt “cheated and deceived” by the lack of prosecutions.
The findings will not be used for criminal prosecutions – in part because the Christian Brothers successfully sued the commission in 2004 to keep the identities of all of its members, dead or alive, unnamed in the report.
No real names, whether of victims or perpetrators, appear in the final document.
Mr Walsh said: “I would have never opened my wounds if I’d known this was going to be the end result.
“It has devastated me and will devastate most victims because there are no criminal proceedings and no accountability whatsoever.”