Mickey Finn

@mickeyfinn

About

In June 1964, a twelve-year old child was summonsed toappear at Dublin’sChildren’s Court. The offence for which he was charged related to an amateurishbreak-in when coerced and accompanied by older children. In terms of gravitythe misbehaviour was hardly more than a prank.

In the severe surroundings of that oak panelled court,deep in the bowels of DublinCastle, Mickey wassentenced to serve Three years hard labour in what was then known as anindustrial school.

Letterfrack IndustrialSchool to which he was sent is situated in Connemara, one of Ireland’s most isolated regions.For a child its remoteness found its equal only in a Siberian gulag; thelikelihood of escape less than that from San Francisco’s notorious Alcatraz Prison. Its seclusionin this malevolent place of correction was a major factor in theinstitutionalised abuse of children by the Christian Brothers withwhom these unfortunate waifs were placed Many of these ill-fatedyoungsters had not been convicted of any offence; their crime was that theywere orphaned; most if not all were victims of dysfunctional family life.

During his sentence Mickey, and the hundreds of otherchildren who passed through this den of depravity, were methodically physicallyand mentally tortured and abused. The IrishStatewas instrumental in providing this depraved band of brothers with a steadysupply of victims. With Taliban-like zeal the Christian Brothers methodicallyadministered random life threatening beatings merely on a whim; the moreinjurious were witnessed by fellow brothers and many witnessed by otherterrified children.