Industrial Schools in Ireland

Industrial Schools (Irish: Scoileanna Saothair) were established in Ireland under the Industrial Schools Act of 1868 to care for "neglected, orphaned and abandoned children". By 1884, there were 5,049 children in such institutions throughout the country.

Former Industrial and Reformatory Schools in the Republic of Ireland are now officially referred to as Children Detention Schools. There are five such institutions in the State. The equivalent institution in Northern Ireland is the Juvenile Justice Centre at Rathgael, near Bangor. It is now Northern Ireland's only children's detention centre following the closure of St Patrick's in Belfast and Lisnevin in Millisle (formerly known as Training Schools).

The first Industrial School in Ireland was set up by Lady Louisa Conolly in Celbridge, Co. Kildare, where young boys learnt woodwork and shoe making skills as well as other trade skills.

Reformatory Schools had been established in 1858 under a Poor Law amendment. Ten years later Industrial Schools were introduced by the Industrial Schools (Ireland) Act of 1868, four years after the equivalent in England. An 'upgraded' Reformatory Act was also introduced that year. Ironically, children charged with begging could not benefit under the terms of the original 1858 Act and were still being sent to adult prisons while young burglars were being sent to the more benign 'special school'. Over the next few decades there was a building boom to provide new premises for both types of institution. Reformatories were intended for children found guilty of criminal offences, while Industrial Schools were for orphaned neglected and abandoned children and those considered in danger of contact with criminality. This latter category had previously been accommodated in so called 'Ragged Schools (such as the one at the Coombe in Dublin), and in the countrywide network of Workhouses. Many private philanthropic schools were granted certificates as Reformatories or Industrial Schools for the reception of children committed by the courts. After certification they became eligible for grants from public money in proportion to the number of children catered for. Although Reformatory Schools were established first, Industrial Schools soon surpassed them, both in numbers of schools and of pupils. Between 1851 and 1858, ten Reformatories (five each for boys and girls) were certified. The 1868 Act insured that Protestant and Catholic children would be catered for separately, preventing proselytising.

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