Madam, - In relation to recent correspondence between One in Four and Let Our Voices Emerge (Love) regarding whose interests are met by the Residential Institutions Redress Board (September 5th and 9th), I would like to state that for many people with a learning disability who were abused as children in residential care the Residential Institutions Redress Board is working well.
The opportunities of civil law are to a large extent denied to many people with learning disabilities as they are rarely deemed to make credible witnesses. Thus this group of people can make an application to a redress system which has a lower burden of proof than the criminal or civil courts.
Regarding the use of language by Love, I and many others find it offensive to describe children raised in care as "inmates", as this leads to connotations that criminal behaviour led them into the care system in the first place. The more accurate and benign term "residents" is much more appropriate. - Yours, etc,
HN LEINSTER, Head of Social Work, Brothers of Charity, Galway.