Children Of The Poor Clares by Mavis Arnold, Heather Laskey Page B
Authors: Mavis Arnold, Heather Laskey
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Inspector of Industrial and Reformatory Schools. She testified that, during her visits to the orphanage, she had been satisfied that all the regulations, including compulsory fire drill, were being carried out. Mr Roe, Counsel for the Order, then clarified the children’s legal status.
‘This is an Industrial School and the children have to be detained in it. They are not permitted to go out?’
Dr McCabe: Yes, it was a very well managed school.’
Mr Roe : ‘In a school of this kind where the children are in a sense prisoners, what are the relations between the children and the nuns?’
Dr McCabe : ‘Excellent. In fact this is one of the good schools… although this is an enclosed order, they do not suffer any restraint. They were intelligent and active children. They were allowed out and about. They had every facility. They were all normal children.’
Although fire escapes were not compulsory in any State institution at that time, the Cavan orphanage did have one. During the fire, however, only two girls out of the eighty-two in the building actually escaped that way, despite the fact that the double fire escape door leading to it was only seven-and-a-half feet away from St Clare’s dormitory. Before going down the iron staircase, it was necessary to go along an exterior iron landing which led through a door into a classroom, then out another door from the classroom, which opened onto the staircase. Criticisms about its location had been made in the Irish Times, and this may have been one of the reasons why Mr McLoughlin called the architect who had drawn up the plans for the fire escape to give evidence. When questioned, he admitted that the location of the fire escape would not have been up to standard regulations. ‘Being an Industrial School you don’t want to have a stairway where people would have access to it other than the people in the institution and you are not always free to put it where you like.’ 8 His statement, and its implications, was accepted without comment.
In his opening statement, Mr McLoughlin said that he would make no conjecture as to the cause of the fire, but then contradicted this by saying, ‘There would be evidence that there was something wrong with the lighting arrangements in the orphanage previous to the fire, and that it was because of this that the main switch in the convent and orphanage premises had been turned off on the night of the fire.’ In fact the electrical system was found, on technical grounds, not to have contributed to the disaster in any way. Furthermore, according to a nun’s evidence later, the turning off of the main switch was a routine procedure.
Mr McLoughlin then added: ‘Cavan Urban Council were not to blame because the modern fire equipment ordered from Britain had been refused’. 9 There had, he said, been a confused account of what happened inside the orphanage, ‘but one thing is clear, that from the time the alarm was given until assistance arrived, nothing more could have been done and no more children could have been rescued in the circumstances.’
This statement was later to be contradicted in the tribunal’s report where it was estimated that, in the first fifteen minutes after the discovery of the fire, the children could have been safely taken out. The tribunal was also to conclude that the building had not been adequately inspected as a fire hazard, and that the Department had not acted in a satisfactory manner in this regard. It did not comment on the fact that the children’s status as de facto prisoners, a situation for which the State, and not the Order, was ultimately responsible, was in any way a contributory factor in their deaths.
* * *
The evidence of the nuns, eight of whom were called, was heard in the convent parlour. As an enclosed order, they were not allowed to leave the confines of St Joseph’s. They were treated with courtesy and consideration, and
‘This is an Industrial School and the children have to be detained in it. They are not permitted to go out?’
Dr McCabe: Yes, it was a very well managed school.’
Mr Roe : ‘In a school of this kind where the children are in a sense prisoners, what are the relations between the children and the nuns?’
Dr McCabe : ‘Excellent. In fact this is one of the good schools… although this is an enclosed order, they do not suffer any restraint. They were intelligent and active children. They were allowed out and about. They had every facility. They were all normal children.’
Although fire escapes were not compulsory in any State institution at that time, the Cavan orphanage did have one. During the fire, however, only two girls out of the eighty-two in the building actually escaped that way, despite the fact that the double fire escape door leading to it was only seven-and-a-half feet away from St Clare’s dormitory. Before going down the iron staircase, it was necessary to go along an exterior iron landing which led through a door into a classroom, then out another door from the classroom, which opened onto the staircase. Criticisms about its location had been made in the Irish Times, and this may have been one of the reasons why Mr McLoughlin called the architect who had drawn up the plans for the fire escape to give evidence. When questioned, he admitted that the location of the fire escape would not have been up to standard regulations. ‘Being an Industrial School you don’t want to have a stairway where people would have access to it other than the people in the institution and you are not always free to put it where you like.’ 8 His statement, and its implications, was accepted without comment.
In his opening statement, Mr McLoughlin said that he would make no conjecture as to the cause of the fire, but then contradicted this by saying, ‘There would be evidence that there was something wrong with the lighting arrangements in the orphanage previous to the fire, and that it was because of this that the main switch in the convent and orphanage premises had been turned off on the night of the fire.’ In fact the electrical system was found, on technical grounds, not to have contributed to the disaster in any way. Furthermore, according to a nun’s evidence later, the turning off of the main switch was a routine procedure.
Mr McLoughlin then added: ‘Cavan Urban Council were not to blame because the modern fire equipment ordered from Britain had been refused’. 9 There had, he said, been a confused account of what happened inside the orphanage, ‘but one thing is clear, that from the time the alarm was given until assistance arrived, nothing more could have been done and no more children could have been rescued in the circumstances.’
This statement was later to be contradicted in the tribunal’s report where it was estimated that, in the first fifteen minutes after the discovery of the fire, the children could have been safely taken out. The tribunal was also to conclude that the building had not been adequately inspected as a fire hazard, and that the Department had not acted in a satisfactory manner in this regard. It did not comment on the fact that the children’s status as de facto prisoners, a situation for which the State, and not the Order, was ultimately responsible, was in any way a contributory factor in their deaths.
* * *
The evidence of the nuns, eight of whom were called, was heard in the convent parlour. As an enclosed order, they were not allowed to leave the confines of St Joseph’s. They were treated with courtesy and consideration, and
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