IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Ruairi Quinn
Monday, October 01, 2012
Religious congregations must meet 50% of the cost of the State’s response to residential abuse, writes Ruairi Quinn
IT IS over three years since the Ryan Report shocked our nation. The litany and scale of child abuse in institutional settings and the anguished voices of the victims and survivors amplified through that report caused us all, as a people, to hang our heads in shame.
It was only right that the State apologised to those whose childhoods were stolen and who, in many instances, could not live full lives as adults and citizens.
Those who managed the institutions failed those children and the State, through it’s agents, failed in its duty to protect its most vulnerable citizens.
The victims have been able to seek redress and receive compensation from the Residential Institutions Redress Board since 2002. This will not give them back their childhoods, but it is an acknowledgement of the pain and abuse they suffered. It is expected some 15,000 former residents will have received awards when the board completes its work.
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