Abuse survivors urge inquiry to begin

Published Friday, 03 August 2012

Survivors of institutional abuse are due to meet Stormont senior officials on Friday to urge that the inquiry they have been campaigning for should begin without further setbacks.

Margaret McGuckin (centre-left) pictured with other members of SAVIA. (© Pacemaker)

Margaret McGuckin, spokesperson for Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (Savia) said survivors have not been given a reason for delays in proceeding with the inquiry.

During the meeting, she will press senior officials to commit on a start date.

At the end of May, the First and deputy First Ministers announced an inquiry into institutional child abuse in Northern Ireland would go ahead.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said the inquiry would include a confidential "acknowledgement forum" in which victims and survivors can recount their childhood experiences in institutions.

Panel members have been assigned to oversee the forum and former judge Sir Anthony Harte has been selected to front the inquiry.

The forum will be precursor to the inquiry, the panel will listen to testimonies of victims and their work will result in a report of their experiences.

The inquiry is now not expected to start until summer 2013, with the acknowledgment forum beginning in October this year.

"What we want now is a date, when the inquiry and when the acknowledgement forum is going to start," Ms McGuckin told UTV.

"We did believe it was going to start in July, we were told that.

"We did believe at the time and we took them at face value that they were willing to get this up and running as soon as possible and that we'd have been going through the acknowledgment forum now at this stage, getting ready for the inquiry."

She said that preparations had been put in place and while some legislation is still to be finalised, she said these were "technicalities".

"They could be dealing with the forum right now, what's stopping us going ahead with the forum?"

She stressed that survivors needed the truth to be told and time was increasingly limited to record their experiences.

"Our people always wanted to be believed and their stories to be told," she said.

Comments

4 Comments

Lyn in Fermanagh wrote (305 days ago):

I am sick sore and tired of all these money wasting public enquiries yes abuse of any sort should never ever happen but we badly need taxpayers money to be spent on schools, roads and hospitals. Is the catholic church gonna fund this enquiry. To Elaine in Fermanagh - society has let children down not social workers, if parents protected their children there wouldnt be the need for social workers. I worked with children and social workers were not at fault for the pain those children were going through, blame society not DSS/social workers

Elaine in Co. Fermanagh wrote (320 days ago):

It's not just Catholic run institutions that need to be investigated - state run institutions need to be fully investigated also. Children in care homes have been let down by social workers for years, not only during their time in care but when living with their family in the first place. Hopefully this inquiry will highlight the negligence of social workers when working children in care, as well as care home staff. The Department of Health and Social Services has a lot to answer for.

John in Co.Armagh wrote (321 days ago):

This inquiry should open a real can of worms, now the catholic church can't hide behind there clerical collars, hopefully they will assist the inquiry with any relevant information to the inquiry, but having covered up clerical abuse for years i hardly think they will be forthcoming with anything that will lead to criminal prosecution's.

Boru in Ireland wrote (321 days ago):

I hope the victims and survivors of 'Kincora' are included in this inquiry - a scandal that was never adequately dealt with.