Suffer the Little Children: The Inside Story of Ireland's Industrial Schools

by Mary Raftery, Eoin O'Sullivan

Up until the late sixties in Ireland, thousands of young children were sent to what were called industrial schools, financed by the Department of Education, and operated by various religious orders of the Catholic Church. Popular belief held that these schools were orphanages or detention centers, when in reality most of the children ended up at the schools because their parents were too poor to care for them. Mary Raftery's award-winning three-part TV series on the industrial schools, States of Fear, shocked Ireland when broadcast on RTE, prompting an unprecedented response in Ireland. Hundreds of people phoned RTE, spoke on radio stations and wrote to newspapers to share their own memories of their local industrial schools. Pages of newsprint were devoted to the issues raised by the series, and on the 11th of May, the airdate of the final segment of the trilogy, the Taoiseach issued an historic apology on behalf of the state to the victims of child abuse within the system.Now, together with Dr. Eoin O'Sullivan, Raftery delves even further into this horrifying chapter of Irish life, revealing for the first time new information from official Department of Education files not accessible during the making of the documentaries. It contains much new material, including startling research showing a level of awareness of child sexual abuse going back over sixty years, particularly within the Christian Brothers. The dissection of these official records, detailing sexual abuse, starvation, physical abuse, and neglect, together with extensive testimony from those who grew up in industrial schools convey both the extraordinary levels of cruelty and suffering experienced by these children, and their tremendous courage and resilience in surviving the often savage way in which they were abused.A definitive history of industrial schools in Ireland, Suffer the Little Children offers a unique insight into the minds of government officials and religious orders who ran this vast system. First-hand testimony from the survivors of the schools punctuates the narrative, providing a stark and revealing picture of stolen childhood.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Education

486 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 11, 1999

Reviews

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a shocking account of child abuse and neglect in Irish industrial schools. I was not previously aware of how industrial schools worked until this book. My heart went out to the victims of abuse and lack of opportunities given to learn. They were living in fear and were not provided with proper clothing or food. I think it should make people aware how fortunate we are to not have grown up like that.

[Bryan Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an astounding book and it should be required reading for the general population, or for those further afield. The utter depravity and torture that took place in the industrial and reformatory schools in Ireland for 150 or so years is almost beyond belief. The book is a bit dated at this stage seeing as it was published in 2001, but consider it a prelude to the publishing of the Ryan Report in 2009. The commission which ended up publishing the Ryan Report had been set up 2 years prior to the publication of the book, hence not much could be mentioned about it, other than the fact that the authors hoped that it would bring some justice to those who suffered for decades.

[Germanio Puglio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this explains why so many parents are cruel and hate their kids and don't really seem to care. The society of Ireland actually stole the children of poor people to get state money for them. Rich kids didn't seem to get taken. They called themselves christians but they were the most social rank obsessed people IN THE WORLD, and yes, I mean those nice nuns and priests. If someone lost their job, their kids were taken. Kids raised in schools by these monsters become so mean themselves.

[Margaret Madden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to follow

[Caoilo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately as a lot of the info in this was older than the majority of my research I DNFed it.

[madsenmel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply excellent book, the one that started my interest in the Irish Industrial Schools. Happened across it by chance in Limerick while on vacation. Filled with research, personal accounts, and background; I couldn't put it down.