Council delays plans to unveil joint plaque for boys who died in Artane Industrial School and Christian Brothers who ran it

Dublin City Council has deferred plans to unveil a plaque to commemorate the people who died in St Joseph’s Industrial School in Artane and are buried in unmarked grounds at the Artane Oratory Church of the Resurrection.

They died between 1871 and 1969. Around 246 boys, who had been detained in the industrial school, as well as 53 Christian Brothers, who ran the industrial school, are believed to be buried there, according to a booklet by a local historian.

On 27 March, Dublin City Council issued an invitation to the unveiling of a commemorative plaque on Tuesday, 9 April.

A photo of the grey stone plaque shows the dates, 1871 and 1969 down the sides, and the text reads: “Artane Oratory Burial Ground: Interred in these grounds are the Boys and Brothers who died at St Joseph’s Industrial School.”

Fianna Fáil Councillor Deirdre Heney was set to unveil the plaque, representing the Lord Mayor, according to the invitation.

In 2022, Heney tabled a motion at a local area committee seeking to commemorate the boys from the industrial school buried on the grounds and the proposal went before the council’s naming and commemorations committee that December.

“Local people are very disappointed that this is not going ahead,” says Heney.

Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn, who is a survivor of the industrial school system, said that it is not acceptable for the boys who died while detained in the industrial school to be commemorated on the same plaque as the Christian Brothers who ran the institution.

Flynn tabled an emergency motion at Monday’s monthly meeting of the council, calling on Dublin City Council to publicly apologise “to the victims and survivors of the brutal residential institutions for promoting and endorsing a highly offensive and hurtful commemorative plaque”.

Flynn’s emergency motion wasn’t heard at the full council meeting because the issue was not deemed to be an emergency, says Heney. But by that stage the council had already decided to defer the unveiling of the plaque.

“Following concerns raised through the democratic system the event has been deferred,” says a council spokesperson. “The concerns are now being fully assessed to identify if any changes may be necessary to achieve a consensus on the way forward.”

“It is planned to set a new date for the event in the near future,” he says.

Unmarked burial ground

The people who are buried on the grounds of the Artane Oratory Church of the Resurrection were originally buried on the grounds of St Joseph’s Industrial School and their bodies were later exhumed and moved, says Heney.

A local historian in Artane, Tom O’Farrell, has done a lot of research into the history of the area and produced a booklet that covers the issue of the unmarked graves, she says.

Locals want the graves marked. “There is nothing to mark the fact that it is a burial ground,” says Heney.

The Ryan report, which was the result of a commission of inquiry into institutional child abuse and published in 2009, details “horrific things done by people”, says Heney.

But the reality is that the Christian Brothers and the boys are buried on that site together, she says. “They are buried there, you can’t say that they are not buried there,” says Heney. “It’s a historical plaque.”

One or two plaques

In 2022 Heney tabled a motion to the North Central Area Committee, calling on the council to commemorate the boys who died in St Joseph’s, which was agreed.

The plaque was “to commemorate the boys who are buried there and who died while incarcerated in the Artane Industrial School”, says the motion.

Independent Councillor Damien O’Farrell, also a campaigner on the issue of institutional abuse, says he suggested at that meeting that the council erect a separate plaque, to commemorate the Christian Brothers who are buried on the same site.

“Both are deserving of respect,” says O’Farrell. “It was agreed that the Christian Brothers would also be commemorated, but on a separate plaque.”

He understood that would also involve a separate unveiling of the plaque. “Commemorating the two together is inappropriate,” he says.

Heney says she doesn’t recall a discussion about whether there should be two separate plaques, but she was happy that her motion passed.

The video of that North Central Area Committee meeting is no longer available on the council’s website. The minutes of the meeting note only that the motion was agreed and should be forwarded to the commemorations and naming committee if a council plaque is required.

In December 2022, the same motion also went before the council’s commemorations and naming committee.

The minutes show that the committee approved plans to erect a plaque to commemorate the boys who were buried there.

The wording of the plaque was to revert to the committee, according to the minutes.

But Flynn, the independent councillor, says that the wording of the plaque never came back before that committee.

“There was no consultation with victims about this,” he says. “I’m calling for the whole thing to be scrapped.”

Heney says that she was satisfied the motion was passed by the commemorations and naming committee and she wasn’t aware that the text was supposed to go back to it. “I’m not involved in the commemorations committee,” she says.

The council spokesperson didn’t directly answer a question about how much it spent on the plaque.

The event management company, Limelight, was engaged to organise an event to unveil it, said the spokesperson.

Flynn says he wants the council to confirm that the plaque commemorating both the boys and the brothers will not be erected.

“The idea that it is deferred is not acceptable,” says Flynn. “This was all ready to go, with catering.”