IRELAND
Irish Independent
In February 1998 a number of men who had been abused by John Hannon, a former Franciscan Brother at the primary school they attended in Clara, Co Offaly, gathered in Tullamore District Court to see Hannon sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to 16 sample charges from an original total of 39, which included 28 counts of indecent assault, nine of buggery and two of attempted buggery.
Those men looked that day to the court for justice. They sought a response from this State to the crimes to which they had been subjected at a primary school run by the Third Order of St Francis, the so-called Brothers of the West. What they had not known was that the State was only too aware of the former Brother Hannon's propensity to abuse children, both boys and girls.
Files from the period show that both the congregation and the Department of Education were informed of allegations at Hannon's former school in Clifden, Co Galway and that there were concerns at a third school in Cummer, Co Galway.