NORTHERN IRELAND
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NI inquiry hears about nuns
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An inquiry in Northern Ireland has heard how young children from the Republic were sometimes transferred to homes run by nuns in Derry and in one case moved to Australia under a migrant scheme.
The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry is hearing about two homes run by the Nazareth sisters at Termonbacca and at Bishop Street in Derry.
In the early years the homes, catering for boys and girls, received no state funding and relied entirely on voluntary contributions.
Small numbers of nuns were involved in caring for hundreds of children.
Staffing was supplemented by older children, volunteers and former residents.
The nuns also ran an orphanage over the border at Fahan in Co Donegal and children were sometimes transferred between the jurisdictions.
According to Christine Smith, a senior counsel for the inquiry, in one case a child born in the Republic was transferred to a home in Derry and later moved to Australia under a migrant scheme.
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