NORTHERN IRELAND
Socialist Worker
[Kincora Material – Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry]
by Simon Basketter
Children suffered decades of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in homes run by the state, charities and churches in Northern Ireland, an inquiry found last week.
Sir Anthony Hart chaired the four-year Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry. He said payouts of up to £100,000 should be made to those who suffered the worst abuse or were sent to Australia.
Hart found “systemic failings” at 20 of the 22 institutions probed over allegations from 1922 to 1995.
But he rejected claims that a paedophile ring involving British establishment figures abused boys at the Kincora home in Belfast.
There have long been suspicions that security services protected William McGrath—who ran the home and did abuse children—because of his links to Loyalist paramilitaries.
Among the first to voice concerns was former Army information officer Colin Wallace in 1975. He was swiftly moved from his post.
Colin said, “The astonishing claim by the authorities, including the Intelligence Services, that they knew nothing about the allegations surrounding McGrath’s sexual activities until 1980 is a total travesty.”
Security services refused to give evidence. It emerged in the inquiry that files about Kincora have been “lost”.
Colin Wallace’s statement in full
Although I initially offered to give evidence to the Hart Inquiry, I later decided not to mainly on the grounds that the Government repeatedly refused to give it the same legal powers as the corresponding Inquiry in London. I believe that both the perception and the reality of the Government’s decision is one of unfairness to the victims.
Despite my decision, I did, however, provide the Hart Inquiry with 265 pages of comment and supporting documents, drawing attention to false or misleading information contained in the transcripts of the public hearings. My reason for doing so was to enable the Inquiry to investigate and corroborate the accuracy of my past comments about Kincora and related matters, and to provide the Inquiry with the opportunity to correct the relevant errors in the its published transcripts.
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