Industrial school survivor sues State

Tom Cronin has brought the case against the State to the High Court and will challenge the constitutionality of the Civil Legal Aid Act and the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002, the Irish Examiner reports.

Between 1930 and 1970, upwards of 42,000 children were put in industrial schools and reformatories.

At seven, Mr Cronin was sent to St Joseph’s Industrial School in Greenmount, Cork, with his two brothers. He was placed under a detention order until the age of 18 – despite having committed no crime.

“You were detained under a detention order for committing no crime; you were in prison and your freedom was taken away immediately. That’s the first abuse,” Mr Cronin said.

“Then you go in behind the gates where there was physical abuse and mental abuse, torture, and starvation; the list was endless.”

Governments over the years used words like “residents” and “redress” to soften the reality of what had happened, he remarked.

“Today they use the word residents. I don’t know where that word came from? A resident relates to somewhere that you live, a hotel or a B&B but if you have a detention order served on you that means you’re imprisoned,” he said.

More than a decade on from the Ryan Report, Mr Cronin is challenging the constitutionality of legal aid provisions as well as elements of the redress scheme, which failed to acknowledge his imprisonment at the hands of the State.

His case will also challenge a gagging order which makes it a crime to reveal the monies received by survivors.