"Children lived with the daily terror of not
knowing where the next beating was coming from,"
said the 2,500-page report, released on Wednesday.
"A climate of fear... permeated most of the
institutions and all those run for boys."
'Culture of silence'
Drawing on statements from thousands of former
students and officials, the report accused successive
generations of priests and nuns of beating, starving
and raping children in state-run institutions.
The report said there was a "culture of silence"
among church leaders who turned a blind eye to the
abuse.
The largest-ever probe into Irish religious orders
found abusers could "operate undetected for long
periods at the core of institutions" while victims
were sometimes blamed as having been corrupted and
"punished severely".
It said girls, although suffering much less sexual
abuse than boys, experienced frequent assaults and
humiliation.
"In some schools a high level of ritualised beating
was routine ... Girls were struck with implements
designed to maximize pain and were struck on all parts
of the body," the report said.
"Personal and family denigration was widespread."
'Sorry and ashamed'
Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Catholic
church in Ireland, said: "I am profoundly sorry and
deeply ashamed that children suffered in such awful
ways in these institutions."
Batt O'Keeffe, Ireland's education minister, said:
"Child abuse is an abhorrent, inexcusable act whenever
and wherever it occurs.
"As a responsible and caring society, we must fully
face up to the fact that wrong was done and we must
learn from the mistakes of the past."
The commission interviewed 1,090 men and women who
were housed in 216 institutions including children's
homes, hospitals and schools.
Many of the children were sent into church care
because of school truancy, petty crime or because they
were the offspring of unmarried mothers.
'Deceived and cheated'
The report was met with mixed responses from
victims of abuse in Catholic institutions.
John Kelly, of the Survivors of Child Abuse group,
said survivors felt "deceived and cheated".
"There is nothing by way of justice in any means
significant in this report, nothing," he said.
But Christine Buckley, one of the main campaigners
on behalf of abuse victims, said the report would
"hopefully close another chapter in the hard lives of
survivors".
"I earnestly hope that the recommendations made in
this report will safeguard children in care at present
and in the future," she said.
Revelations of abuse have eroded the Catholic
Church's moral authority in Ireland.
The inquiry was announced in 1999 by Bertie Ahern,
the then prime minister, after he apologised to
victims following revelations made in a series of
television documentaries.
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