A man who claims that from the age of nine he was abused more than 250 times by a Franciscan Brother who taught him at a Galway primary school, has sued the Franciscan Order and the State for damages.
The man claims that despite complaints by a number of parents in 1973 about the alleged abuse, neither the State nor the order took any steps to address the matter until the mid-1990s.
"If the Franciscan Order or the State authorities addressed the issue, the plaintiff's injuries would not be as severe as they are today," Martin Giblin SC, for the man, said.
Opening the case yesterday, Mr Giblin said it arose from assaults perpetrated on his client when he was a pupil in a Galway primary school between 1969 and 1972 by his teacher, John Hannon, a former Brother and father-of-five. Hannon (65) was released from prison on October 3rd after serving a 10 year sentence on indecent assault charges in relation to other children.
Mr Giblin said his client, now a married man with a family, estimates he was abused in excess of 250 times. The abuse was so widespread that it affected nearly every pupil in the class, counsel said.
Hannon would tell the children "to go asleep" or "dul a chodladh" and this was his signal to the other pupils to put their heads down while Hannon sat down in a desk and committed a sexual assault on his chosen pupil, counsel said.
The court was told Hannon also locked the doors of the classroom and closed the venetian blinds on the windows that faced the road.
Mr Giblin said his client had to repeat his final year of primary school, "the only child to suffer this misfortune".
The only reason the plaintiff was kept back was to be abused, Mr Giblin said. He was "repeatedly abused" during this year, he added.
In 1973, four parents of children attending the school made a complaint to the school authorities and the governing authorities who ran the school, Mr Giblin said.
Strenuous efforts were made by a cleric and a schools inspector to address the problem but "all efforts were in vain", he said. The inspector's report of complaints was "sent up along the line but nothing was done".
Both the Franciscan order and the State "took no steps to address the offending behaviour", Mr Giblin said.
The court was told that the Franciscan Brother was moved to a school in Offaly and then onto a school in Galway where, it was alleged, he continued the abuse.
In the mid-1990's, the matter was properly addressed and a Garda investigation was carried out after complaints were made alleging abuse by the Brother, counsel said.
Mr Giblin said the victim was "continually embarrassed and humiliated" when being abused in view of his schoolmates. The abuse began when he was nine and continued until he left the school at the age of 12, counsel said. The hearing continues today before Mr Justice Richard Johnson.