Institutions in Northern Ireland where historical institutional abuse took place must be pressed to contribute towards the cost of redress for victims, a campaigner has said.
Addressing MLAs on Stormont’s Executive Office committee, Jon McCourt said several years after a recommendation to pay compensation was made in an inquiry, the institutions had not contributed a penny.
The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIAI) revealed sexual, physical and emotional abuse at state, church and charity-run homes in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1995.
Sir Anthony Hart recommended in 2017 that the relevant institutions should be asked to make an appropriate financial contribution to the overall cost of the HIA Redress Board and any specialist services.
Mr McCourt, chairman of Survivors North West, told MLAs about a meeting at Castle Buildings in 2010, where victims were told that the institutions had “been put on notice to meet their financial obligations”.
He added: “That was in 2010.
“We are now 14 years down the road, 12 years after the Historical Institutional Abuse legislation was passed in the Assembly chamber, 10 years since the inquiry itself opened in Banbridge, seven years since the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry released its report containing its outline key recommendations.”
He added: “Fourteen years after the initial assurance that ‘institutions had been put on notice’ and with 12 months left before the redress board can accept its last application – in line with its five-year remit.
“In excess of £90 million has been awarded to victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse by the redress board since it received its first application in April 2020.
“That was three months after then first minister Arlene Foster stated: ‘I think it is incumbent on those institutions to step forward, not only in a moral way, but indeed in terms of financial redress as well, and that is something we will continue to take up’.
“Since then, not one penny has been forthcoming from any of the institutions that were, in the words of Sir Anthony Hart, found guilty of systemic failings.
Mr McCourt said the inquiry had had statutory powers to be mindful of the public purse.
He added: “Yet to date, the total burden of redress is coming solely from the public purse, ie the taxpayer.
“At a time when public services are stretched to capacity through lack of resources, cutbacks in the health service and particularly mental health provision on which many victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse depend, surely it is time to press the institutions to step up and contribute significantly to the overall cost of redress and any specialist services.
“We believe we are beyond the point of asking these institutions to make arrangements to meet their financial obligations or asking them again to make an appropriate financial contribution.
“Any contributions should not just be viewed through the fiscal lens, but should also be significantly punitive to reflect the harms done and acknowledge the pain and suffering of victims and survivors.”
