King’s Birthday Honours: Margaret McGuckin - Campaigner for abuse victims dedicates MBE title to late brother

A leading campaigner for victims of historical institutional abuse has dedicated her MBE to her late brother.

Margaret McGuckin, who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours, was herself a victim of abuse, alongside her brother Kevin, who passed away in June of this year.

Ms McGuckin is the leader of Savia (Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse), a group that offers support to and campaigns on behalf of people who suffered physical, sexual, mental and emotional abuses in institutions across Northern Ireland.

She said she was shocked to find out she was to become an MBE.

“I just laughed. I laughed I was in shock, of course I was in shock,” she said.

“I wasn’t intending or wanting to be honoured in any way… and to see that I was, I was speechless, and I’m not often speechless.”

Savia was formed after the publication of the Ryan Report which uncovered a litany of instances of child abuse in the Republic of Ireland, and the group aimed to achieve the same in Northern Ireland.

As a leading voice in the campaign, Ms McGuckin was present as victims of historical institutional abuse in Northern Ireland received a formal apology in March 2022 from five ministers, representing each of the main Stormont parties.

Ms Guckin said the MBE was a recognition of what she and other survivors went through.

“To suffer humiliation and degradation in life and abuse, you know you can only take that so far – you can either die or survive and fight,” she explained. “And I’ve done that and I suppose that is in recognition for that, now.”

She also dedicated her place on the King’s honours list to her late brother Kevin.

“It is a recognition, it is lovely to have and receive although I would go, ‘ach, it doesn’t matter’, but it is the more I think of it now when I’m coming down to earth,” she said.

“And I can always say – it’s for Kevin. This is for Kevin, my beautiful brother, you know, so I’ll give it away to him, as it were, in dedication to him and what he suffered and so many others. We were fighting for everybody that keeps me happy, it’s not just for me, it’s for others, you know, I’m grateful, so grateful.”

This year Ms McGuckin has authored a book titled I Did This For You, and said her story is a reminder that people can turn their lives around.

“They can survive and they can grow out of that place that they were in, just like me, huddled in a corner in a dungeon in that institution, hating myself all my teenage years,” she continued.

“But you can survive that and change your life and you can get the right people to support you, or just have dogged determination to do it where you build up your confidence. That’s what I had to do and I had to go through hell for to do it.

She added: “It was tough to do, but I wanted a future. I didn’t want to remain where I once was, what them people had turned me into, and it happened, I reprogrammed myself, and they can do it too.”