Gardai in Galway have widened their investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse at a former industrial school in north Connemara.
Some 50 formal complaints have been made to date by former inmates of Letterfrack Industrial School, run by the Christian Brothers, and more statements to the gardai are expected. An incident room has been set up at Clifden Garda station, and office space has also been rented in the town by the investigation team.
The team, headed by Supt Tony Dowd, is expected to continue its work well into the new year, with a dedicated staff of six and another three in the incident room. No charges have as yet been preferred. The inquiry dates back over two years, and arose on foot of a complaint to gardai in Dublin by a man who said that he had been abused while a resident at Letterfrack.
Gardai in Clifden pursued the claims and made contact with several other former pupils of the school. A number alleged they had been sexually and physically abused by Christian Brothers during the 1960s and 1970s.
Some of the pupils also attended Artane Industrial School in Dublin, the subject of a separate garda investigation into claims of sexual and physical abuse. Files in the Department of Education in Athlone, Co Westmeath, have been consulted as part of the inquiry.
A file containing 20 statements was sent to the DPP a year ago, and was returned with a request for more information.
It is understood that three of the Christian Brothers against whom allegations have been made have since died, while three others have left the order and one has been living outside the State.
The school in Letterfrack accepted boys between the ages of six and 16 who had lost their parents, who came from broken homes or who were deemed to be young offenders.
Some of the offences were minor, yet received harsh responses from the judiciary at the time. The school now houses a furniture college run by a community-based Connemara company.
