Exclusive - Named and shamed

We reveal 11 people given pseudonyms who are criticised in the abuse report

John Downes, News Investigations Correspondent

Sister Joseph Conception

James Redmond aka Brother Eunan

James Kelly AKA Brother Ambrose

David Murray

Myles Brady

Sister Xaviera

The Sunday Tribune today publishes the names of 11 people given anonymous identities in the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. All of those identified are criticised either for administering physical or sexual abuse, or for failing to prevent it happening to the children in their care.

The list of names includes two former managers of schools who were appointed Provincials of their religious orders, and a nun, Sister Xaviera (Severia), who famously defended her record on Prime Time after revelations of abuse emerged in the 1996 Dear Daughter documentary about Goldenbridge. She is given the pseudonym 'Sr Alida' and is accused of beating children and for letting her enthusiasm for the making of rosary beads at Goldenbridge become an "obsession".

Former Rosminian Provincial Fr Patrick Pierce, who managed the now infamous Ferryhouse school in Clonmel from 1975 to 1991, is given the pseudonym 'Fr Stefano'.

It notes that he failed to report the activities of a 'Br Bruno' – who is in fact the notorious sexual predator Sean Barry – to the gardaí until the mid-1990s. This was despite the fact that his "activities as a perpetrator of sexual abuse in Ferryhouse came to light in the late 1970s, following which he was dismissed from the order," it states.

The late Fr William McGonagle, former Provincial of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Ireland, is 'Fr Luca' in the report. He ran St Conleth's reformatory school in Daingean, Co Offaly, from the mid-1960s until the early 1970s.

"Fr Luca's procedure would have tended to suppress rather than encourage allegations of sexual abuse in Daingean," the report states.

Sr Joseph Conception, who is now in her 80s, was resident manager of St Joseph's in Kilkenny until 1986.

She is given the name 'Sr Astrid' and receives criticism for her failure to act to reduce the risk to children from two care workers who were subsequently convicted for abuse: 'Thomas Pleece' who is David Murray and who was provided with a reference by Sr Conception, and his successor, 'Peter Tade', who is the late convicted abuser Myles Brady.

"[Sr Conception] eventually removed [Murray] and, later, [Brady] after complaints were made to her about them. However, she did not face up to what had happened to the children," the report states.

James Kelly, the notorious Brother Ambrose, is identified as 'Brother Dieter'. He was jailed for his crimes at Our Lady of Good Counsel school in Lota, Co Cork, in 1999, but was released after serving just three years. In 2004, James Redmond, or Brother Eunan, was also given a three-year suspended sentence for abusing boys at Lota. In the report, he is identified only as 'Br Guthrie'.

Christian Brother Maurice Tobin was sentenced in November 2003 after he pleaded guilty to the sexual abuse of 25 boys at Letterfrack Industrial School. He is referred to as 'Brother Dax' in the report.

A Mercy nun who ruled St Michael's in Cappoquin with an iron fist from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s, referred to only as 'Resident Manager' in the report, was Sr Mary Teresa Doran. Her name can be added to a growing list of people who are given pseudonyms in the report but whose identities have now become public. They include 'Sister Calida', who this newspaper last week revealed is the former Mercy sister Nora Wall, who had her 1999 conviction for the rape of a child quashed. The report said she beat children in her care and that she exposed them to "additional risk" by allowing male outsiders to stay overnight at St Michael's home in Cappoquin, Co Waterford.

'Sr Wilma', referred to in the report's chapter on St Joseph's Kilkenny, is the prominent homeless campaigner Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, while 'John Brander' is the convicted abuser Donal Dunne. Sr Stanislaus last week strenuously denied that she knew about child abuse at the orphanage.

The publication of the names comes as preparations are made for a 'March of Solidarity' with survivors of the abuse detailed in the Ryan Report, which will take place on 10 June. The march is being organised by Survivors of Institutional Abuse Ireland (SOIAI).

Last week, President Mary McAleese said she believes there should be criminal prosecutions as a result of the commission's report.

The Sunday Tribune understands gardaí are using the report as a "source of intelligence" and will approach victims to give new statements about sexual and physical abuse. They will then pursue criminal convictions where possible.

May 31, 2009

Comments

#1 Catherine Mulcahy commented, on May 31, 2009 at 10:07 p.m.:

please dont let this terrible evil,be brushed under the carpet,i am irish but i feel we are a cowardly nation and have been used to being ruled and bow down to it,we have to be heard and march on the streets on a regular basis.Why should we agree to pay 50/50 the church has the money time to pay for their perverted pleasures,the tax payer has to foot everyones crimes,

#2 jonathan commented, on June 1, 2009 at 10:24 a.m.:

The church needs to be held 100% accountable for the their perverted actions.
Forget about the 50/50 payment - that is utter rubbish. This country is about crumble between the actions of the priests, nuns and bankers and the bill the taxpayer will now have to pick up.
Banish the lot of them to some island somewhere far far away, and let them all screw each other instead of screwing the rest of us.

#3 Phil Little commented, on June 1, 2009 at 3:41 p.m.:

All this effort to protect the identities of the abusers! The only reason to explain this is that in such revelations, even more rot will come to light. These are not just corrupt and cowardly individuals who preyed on the most vulnerable of society, but they are representatives of institutions that either were unable to guide their members to better conduct or were structurally compromised and a part of the problem. The whole religious system that recruited immature candidates and then put them in artificial environments, mixed with a Jansenist sub-culture and a power structure of church-state, resulted in not just a failure but an inability to chose right action. Groups such as the Christian Brothers have proven in other countries as well that their order should be suppressed, and all their material goods licquidated to benefit their victims. Other groups should consider whether or not they are able to continue in the vision of their founders, who must be turning in their graves to witness the filth and rot that these institutions have become. Is it not interesting that the Vatican is not coming forth with a clear determination to clean house?

#4 . commented, on June 2, 2009 at 11:05 a.m.:

I can vouch for Sr conception , and I believe she did what was within her power at the time.

#5 may Cornish -Henderson commented, on June 4, 2009 at 10:43 a.m.:

Contrary to the commission's general policy no names were to be mentioned in the commission report
On Reading your Paper on 31st June I received 3 phone calls telling me I was mentioned in the Commissions report. As I spent 14 years in Golden Bridge but did not have the Opportunity to go to the Commission as I was too late in finding out about what was going on in Ireland. I was more than suprised, I was told the Item was in Volume 5 under the heading Gateways by Professor D. Morgan. He has taken what I had written to the Dept of Justice and gave the day I was taken to Court my age at the time what I was charged with and then signed my name. Ms Henderson he didnt even give me the Title of Mrs Mary Henderson( no respect)None Of the abusers names were given and I should have been given the same respect and Consideration. Mrs Mary Henderson London

#6 David Ryan commented, on June 7, 2009 at 2:12 a.m.:

Despite all the reporting of abuse and cover up by the Irish church and the power and money-hungry scum in Rome - hundreds of thousands still fund the rotten cult through mass cards, candles, and prayers for cash! How frickin' grubby and primative - one step up from burning goats.
If our fellow citizens who claim to be christian are to be taken seriously then they've got to stop acting like pathetic colluding cowards. Take the words of Christ seriously "tie a millstone around the necks" of those who harm and those who protect them. I personally don't believe in hell, but if I did, as practicing Catholics do, I have no doubt that those who still support the Catholic Church at this time should burn in it for an eternity.

#7 CMD commented, on June 7, 2009 at 11:56 a.m.:

Sr.Kennedy - Shame on you and all of your brethren

#8 Noel commented, on June 7, 2009 at 4:24 p.m.:

The former residents of those institutions should carry banners identifying the abusers and the pseudynoms that they were given by the Ryan Commission at next Wedendays march and publicly shame them. By the way, as far as the religious orders are concerned, it is about money and nothing else!

#9 Peter O'Connor commented, on June 7, 2009 at 4:39 p.m.:

This is all a sad reflection of modern times. Moral value and genuine integrity has been corrupted beyond all realms of rational imagination.
We need a rethink in politics, state and spiritual status.