Sir, - The Christian Brothers note with deep regret and disbelief the seriously misleading article by Patsy McGarry, "Artane boys faced the music - and straps" (The Irish Times, September 25th). The main source for the story seems to be Mr Patrick Walsh, a former resident of Artane Industrial School.
Mr McGarry made no attempt to check his story with the Christian Brothers. The article refers to boys arriving to the infirmary "clutching their stomachs after being punched by Christian Brothers". In this context, Patrick Walsh is quoted as saying that he "recalled two funerals of boys who had been rushed to the Mater Hospital with `acute appendicitis'." It is outrageous that an award-winning journalist would include such extremely serious assertions in an article in The Irish Times without even bothering to check the facts. The implication is that the boys who were beaten and seriously injured by the Brothers were then dispatched to hospital where they died. The use of quotation marks around the words "acute appendicitis" seems to imply that the boys died from some other cause. The fact of the matter is that is that no boy resident of Artane died while Patrick Walsh was there.
The article also refers to records showing that Patrick Walsh was detained in the infirmary five times between October 1963 and October 1964, "each following severe beatings". No doubt, the reference to records and the inclusion of definite dates are meant to show the authenticity of the story. One would have to ask, however, if Patsy McGarry has checked these records. In fact the records for Artane Industrial School show that Patrick Walsh was never admitted to the infirmary during that period.
Your correspondent, and you as Editor, must surely be aware of the Government commission (May 1999) into childhood abuse in reformatory and industrial schools and other places. It is astonishing, therefore, that such an irresponsible and misleading article has been published by The Irish Times. We would ask you please to set the record straight. - Yours, etc.,
Brother J.K. Mullan, Province Leader, Christian Brothers Provincialate, Cluain Mhuire, North Circular Road, Dublin 7.
A procedural oversight occurred as a result of which Mr Walsh's allegations were not put to the Christian Brothers in advance of publication.
A further error took place in citing Mr Walsh's dates of admission to the infirmary. Artane records show that he was admitted four times between October and 1964 and October 1965.
The Irish Times is happy to put this clarifying information from the Christian Brothers on the public record. The errors are very much regretted. - Ed, IT.