Report exposes 'endemic' abuse in Church-run Irish homes

Sexual abuse was "endemic" in boys' homes in Ireland and Church leaders turned a blind eye to it, according to a major new report on mistreatment in Church-run institutions dating back to the 1930s.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland said he was "profoundly sorry" after publication of the 2,500-page report on Wednesday, which said there was a "culture of silence" among authorities about abuse in the state-funded homes.

"Children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from," said the report, the result of a nine-year probe. "A climate of fear... permeated most of the institutions and all those run for boys."

The largest-ever probe into Irish religious orders found abusers could "operate undetected for long periods at the core of institutions," while victims were sometimes blamed as having been corrupted and "punished severely."

"Sexual abuse was endemic in boys' institutions," said the long-awaited official report, concluding: "Sexual abuse was known to religious authorities to be a persistent problem in male religious organisations."

It added: "Sexual abuse by members of religious orders was seldom brought to the attention of the Department of Education by religious authorities because of a culture of silence about the issue."

Since 2000, the government-appointed Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has been probing allegations of sexual and physical abuse in reform schools, workhouses, orphanages, children's homes and other childcare institutions.

Compensation has been sought by Irish people now living in more than 30 countries, with 40 per cent of claims from women.

Some victims of abuse dismissed the report, which did not name the perpetrators and is unlikely to lead to any prosecutions.

"There is nothing by way of justice in any means significant in this report, nothing," said John Kelly of the Survivors of Child Abuse group, adding that survivors felt "deceived and cheated".

But a victim turned campaigner, Christine Buckley, said it would "hopefully close another chapter in the hard lives of survivors".

"I earnestly hope that the recommendations made in this report will safeguard children in care at present and in the future," she said.

The head of the Irish Catholic church, Cardinal Sean Brady, apologised to the victims.