Radio pieces on corporal punishment in Irish schools

Written By Eoin Costello

‘Johnny is a holy man,

He goes to mass on Sundays,

He prays to God to give him strength

To beat the boys on Monday’

Frank O’Connor as featured on RTE’s Bowman 8.30 on Sunday 23rd March 2025

The poem above is from Frank O'Connor's autobiographical work An Only Child and describes his time at St. Patrick’s National School in Cork.

The poem is about the first teacher he encountered in his national school, ‘That was a rough establishment’ O’Connor observes in the clip on Bowman’s show - https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/bowman-sunday-830/2025/0323/1503554-bowman-sunday-830-sunday-23-march-2025/

Eoin Costello
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