‘Truly Shocking’ Levels of Sexual Abuse Revealed by Irish Schools Report

The level of sexual abuse at religious schools in the Republic of Ireland spanning 90 years, up until 2013, is “truly shocking,” says the country’s education minister, Norma Foley. Most of the 2,395 allegations of abuse took place at schools run by the Roman Catholic Church. A preliminary report by a scoping inquiry, published on Tuesday, found evidence of 884 alleged sexual abusers at 308 schools across Ireland between 1927 and 2013. About half of those accused of abuse in the report are believed to be dead. The inquiry’s chair, senior counsel Mary O’Toole, said most of the allegations of abuse stemmed from the period between the 1960s and the 1990s....