NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Stormont officials are to be compelled to give evidence to an Assembly committee on a controversy surrounding victims who fall outside the terms of the on-going Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

Members of the committee that scrutinises the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) voted to trigger the exceptional step after a failed year-long quest to obtain information.

The committee’s repeated requests for a briefing about what OFMDFM was going to do for abuse victims not covered by the HIA’s terms of reference have not been fulfilled.

The inquiry established by the Stormont Executive is currently hearing the testimony of residents who were abused in church, state and voluntary run institutions from 1922 to 1995, but only those who were under 18 at the time the crimes were committed.

That excludes older victims, such as young women abused in Magdalene Laundry-type institutions.