Assembly to debate public inquiry call into Muckamore abuse scandal

Each of the five largest parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly — Sinn Fein, Alliance, the SDLP, DUP and UUP — have previously given their support to families’ calls for a public inquiry into the alleged abuse of patients by staff and the handling of those allegations by health authorities.

During the three-year powersharing deadlock at Stormont, the leaders of the five parties wrote to the head of the Department of Health to express their support for a public inquiry.

But with devolution now back up-and-running since January, no such inquiry has been called.

Health Minister Robin Swann, who was one of those who wrote to the head of the Department of Health in his role at the time of UUP leader, said last month that it is his “intention” to order an inquiry on Muckamore but he hasn’t confirmed whether it will be a full public inquiry with the powers to compel witnesses.

Today, the Northern Ireland Assembly is set to debate a motion from the Alliance Party calling explicitly for a full public inquiry under the terms of the 2005 Inquiries Act.

Glynn Brown, whose son Aaron was a patient at the specialist hospital facility for people with serious mental and learning difficulties when the allegations of abuse first emerged, said he expects the parties to “keep their word” and back the Alliance motion.

“They gave a written commitment for a public inquiry and now, after three years of campaigning, there’s going to be a debate in Stormont,” he told the News Letter. “I expect them to keep their word. I will be absolutely horrified if there isn’t unanimous support.”

Mr Brown, whose efforts in trying to expose “the truth about Muckamore” were praised by Mr Swann last month, added: “Anybody who has a remote grasp of the magnitude of this scandal and the magnitude of the failures of every protection must be in full support.

“If you ask the police they will tell you this is the largest investigation of its kind in UK history.”

The PSNI, with assistance from the UK-wide National Crime Agency, has for several years been investigating abuse allegations surrounding the hospital.

Since the investigation was launched around three years ago, police have viewed hundreds of thousands of hours of CCTV footage from inside the facility. The officer leading the probe, Detective Chief Inspector Jill Duffie, confirmed in an interview with the Irish News in August last year that 1,500 individual suspected crimes had been identified in just one six-bed ward over a six-month period in 2017.

Yesterday, a 57-year-old woman in the Antrim area became the eighth person to be arrested as part of the police investigation.

Meanwhile, the Belfast Trust had placed 59 staff on precautionary suspension by last month, with another 47 having been placed under ‘supervision’.