Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry

The inquiry was set up in response to the Inquiry into Historical Institutional Abuse Act (Northern Ireland) 2013 (c. 2 (N.I.)). Following a request to extend its timescale, the inquiry's report was delivered to the First Minister and deputy First Minister (who had no powers to change it) on 6 January 2017, shortly before the deadline of 18 January, and published on 20 January. In October 2019 the House of Lords passed the Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Bill "to establish the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board and confer an entitlement to compensation...", and it was passed by the House of Commons as one of its last acts before the 2019 United Kingdom general election. In the 2019 New Year's Honours list, the Secretary of the Inquiry, Andrew Browne, was made OBE for his services to victims and survivors of abuse, while Paula Dawson was made MBE for her services to public inquiries. In May 2020 Interim Advocate for Survivors of Historical Abuse Brendan McAllister office leaked the personal and private details of approximately 250 Survivors of Historical abuse in an emailing data breach error and as a result McAllister faced widespread calls to resign from the two oldest and largest Survivor groups the Saint Patrick's Survivors and SAVIA alongside many other independent survivors having lost trust in the Interim Advocate. In June 2020 Interim advocate Brendan McAllister was called to resign again after victims accused him of having a "conflict of interest", after he was ordained as a Deacon in the Catholic Church. McAllister assisted in liturgy at Saint Peters Church in Warrenpoint as part of the Down and Conner Diocese, despite the HIA Inquiry having found that the Diocese of Down and Conner failed to raise concerns about serial child abuser Father Brendan Smyth, and did not inform social services or the police. ==Scope of inquiry==

The inquiry said that it would investigate the following Institutions, but that it might later decide to investigate others: The Inquiry's hearings are held in the former Banbridge courthouse; the opening hearing was held on 13 January 2014, with open oral testimony to finish in June 2015, and with the inquiry team reporting to the Executive by the start of 2016. with closing submissions on 17 December 2014. • Module 4, on Sisters of Nazareth Belfast - Nazareth House and Lodge, started on 5 January 2015. • Module 5 covers Fort James Children's Home of Ardmore Road and Harberton House Assessment Centre of Irish Street, both in Derry. • Module 6 relates to Fr. Brendan Smyth, who abused children in parishes in Belfast, and also in Dublin and the United States. including claims that there was a paedophile ring at the home with links to the intelligence services; Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said that all state agencies would co-operate with the inquiry. ==Findings==

On 20 January 2017 the Inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart, a retired Judge, announced the release of the Report which found wide-spread abuse of children in care. He said that all documents considered relevant and without private information would be placed on the website, starting before the report was released, but warning that it would take some time before the task was completed. He recommended financial compensation, an apology and a permanent memorial to be erected at Stormont. ==Apology==

On 11 March 2022, five years after the recommendation for an apology was made, ministers from the five main political parties in Northern Ireland made statements of apology to those abused, and those sent as child migrants to Australia, in the Northern Ireland Assembly. A typical apology was "Today we, as representatives of the state, say that we are sorry ... that the state's systems failed to protect you from abuse". Representatives from six institutions that carried out abuse also apologised. McCourt praised the government ministers' apologies; they had "sat and thought out and listened to what it was we said.", but said that the institutions had failed to do this, leading to some victims having to leave the room while they were speaking, "compound[ing] the hurt." Others angry at the institutions' apologies included Caroline Farry, who attended St Joseph's Training School in Middletown from 1978-1981, overseen by nuns from the Sisters of St Louis, Pádraigín Drinan from Survivors of Abuse, and Alice Harper, whose brother, a victim of the De La Salle Brothers, had since died. Peter Murdock, from campaign group Savia, was at Nazareth Lodge Orphanage with his brother (who had recently died); he likened the institution to an "SS camp". He said "It's shocking to hear a nun from the institution apologising ... it comes 30 years too late ... people need to realise that it has to come from the heart. They say it came from the heart but why did they not apologise 30 years ago?" ==See also==