NI campaigners demand abuse inquiry
Monday, 2 November 2009 18:24
Victims of abuse today handed the Northern Ireland Assembly a petition calling for a full inquiry into their treatment at institutions run by the Catholic Church and the state.
The move comes after victims of child abuse wrote to the Stormont government demanding an inquiry along the lines of the Ryan report.
The Ryan report exposed widespread abuse in homes run by religious orders in the Republic.
The victims in the North, where the State also ran residential homes, claim they have been discriminated against because no redress scheme similar to the one in the Republic exists.
At the Northern Assembly the SDLP's Carmel Hanna had put down a motion for debate today.
She said the abuse suffered by an entire generation, North and South, must never be allowed to happen again.
Before the debate, two victims handed over a petition with several thousand signatures calling for a formal investigation.
The motion for an assesment was passed by MLAs by acclaim, without a vote being taken.
Cardinal Sean Brady has said he was sorry for any distress caused to victims of child abuse at institutions.
Speaking to reporters in Armagh this afternoon he apologised to those who had survived abuse, which they had suffered as children in Catholic-run institutions.
He said the matter of an inquiry in Northern Ireland was a matter for the government, but if the Executive decided to hold such an inquiry, then the Catholic Church would co-operate with it.
