CAMPAIGNERS AGAINST child abuse in Northern Ireland will today hand the Northern Ireland Assembly a petition demanding a full inquiry into the children’s treatment in institutions run by the Catholic Church and the State.
Thousands of people are understood to have signed the petition, and MLAs will today debate a call for a commission to examine the impact of abuse in the North.
The move comes after victims of child abuse wrote to the Stormont Assembly demanding an inquiry along the lines of the Ryan report that exposed widespread abuse in homes run by religious orders in the Republic.
A lawyer for the victims said they suffered sexual and physical abuse in cases dating back to the 1940s, but believed they have been discriminated against since inquires in the South did not extend to Northern Ireland.
Solicitor Joe Rice said Northern Ireland abuse victims have asked secretary of state Shaun Woodward to fund the inquiry along the lines of the state-sponsored investigation conducted into the child sex abuse scandal at Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast in the 1980s.