Abuse survivors have ‘waited a very long time’ for apology

Survivors of childhood abuse at residential institutions in NI have “waited a very long time” for a state apology, a campaigner has said.
By Niall Deeney
Published 11th Mar 2022, 09:44 BST
Margaret McGuckin (left) and Denise Burke of Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA) on the steps of Parliament Buildings at Stormont, Belfast. Picture date: Monday February 14, 2022.Margaret McGuckin (left) and Denise Burke of Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA) on the steps of Parliament Buildings at Stormont, Belfast. Picture date: Monday February 14, 2022.
Margaret McGuckin (left) and Denise Burke of Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA) on the steps of Parliament Buildings at Stormont, Belfast. Picture date: Monday February 14, 2022.

Five government ministers are expected to deliver the apology this afternoon, to victims and survivors of abuse at institutions run by the state, Church and other organisations.

It was recommended five years ago following a public inquiry which found the abuse was “widespread” in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1995.

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The inquiry, led by the late Sir Anthony Hart, was ordered in 2011 following a lengthy campaign by victims and its findings were published in 2017.

Margaret McGuckin, from the lobby group SAVIA (Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse), told the News Letter: “We have waited a very long time for this apology to come. This is going into the 15th year of campaigning, from 2008, and we have had to battle and fight and lobby and campaign all the way.”

She continued: “Government officials stood on the steps of the Assembly in 2011, agreeing to the inquiry, but after that - throughout the fall of the Assembly - we had to battle. We had to battle in the High Courts, we had to go to Westminster to even get the legislation through, we had to battle to get the services through. They closed the doors on us time and time again.”

She added: “It’ll be bittersweet for us, this apology. The reason it is happening is because we had to practically bully them into something that they should have done.”

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Some of its recommendations, including the apology, were delayed due to the three-year collapse of Stormont following Sinn Fein’s withdrawal over the RHI scandal in 2017.

Legislation required for a compensation scheme was passed by the government in Westminster in 2020 in the absence of the Executive.

Today’s apology had been due to be given by the First and Deputy First Ministers Paul Givan and Michelle O’Neill, but the DUP’s decision to withdraw Mr Givan from his post over the Northern Ireland Protocol means the apology will now be delivered by the ministers of education, finance, infrastructure, health and justice – Michelle McIlveen, Conor Murphy, Nichola Mallon, Robin Swann and Naomi Long.

While the apology has been welcomed by SAVIA and other groups representing victims and survivors, the organisation Survivors Together has rejected what it described as the “downgraded” apology in light of the withdrawal of the first and deputy first ministers earlier this year.

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The apology is due to be live-streamed from the Assembly Chamber at Stormont from 12.30pm today and will be available via the Assembly website, Facebook and YouTube.

In a joint statement issued by the Executive Office, the five ministers involved said: “We have worked alongside victims and survivors to ensure that the maximum number who wish to hear the apology have been accommodated within the Assembly Chamber and Parliament Buildings.”