NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
BY SAMUEL MORRISON – 14 JANUARY 2014
On Monday an inquiry investigating child abuse in state run institutions got under way.
It seems certain that the inquiry will uncover many harrowing stories. It needs to be pointed out, however, that the inquiry will create a hierarchy of abuse victims.
While it will investigate cases where abuse took place within state run institutions, those who suffered abuse outside institutions and were the object of clerical abuse are excluded.
When the issue came before the Assembly TUV was lobbied by victims of clerical abuse, including by families of Brendan Smyth’s victims, and was convinced by their arguments that clerical abuse should be included within the terms of reference of the Inquiry.
Jim Allister therefore sought to widen the scope of the inquiry to include clerical abuse but his amendments were blocked from even reaching the floor of the House.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.