NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian
Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
theguardian.com, Monday 1 September 2014
Northern Ireland’s orphanages and homes operated a policy of forcibly transporting children to Australia until the 1950s, a long-running inquiry into child abuse at these institutions will hear on Monday.
Sixty-six former residents have given evidence of how they were sent across the world without their consent between 1946 and 1956. Many of those who have come forward will give evidence via video link over what happened to them under the scheme.
The migration scheme to Australia will be examined at the historical institutional abuse inquiry held at Banbridge courthouse in County Down.
The public inquiry is the largest held into such institutions like orphanages anywhere in the UK. Thirteen Catholic and state-run institutions are under scrutiny.
The inquiry will be told that the transport of children from institutions in Northern Ireland mainly to similar homes in western Australia was part of UK government policy at the time.
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