Sex abuse survivors ‘must be heard’ for report recommendations
VICTIMS of historical sexual abuse have appealed to the Head of the Civil Service to listen to survivors as he moves to implement the recommendations of the Hart Report.
David Sterling told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee yesterday that draft legislation to put the recommendations into action will be ready by the summer.
If the Stormont Executive is not up and running by then, he said, he would ask the Secretary of State to take the issue to Westminster.
However, victims have given a mixed response to the announcement, reminding Mr Sterling not everyone was happy with just how far the recommendations went.
Jon McCourt, who was abused at St Joseph’s children’s home in Londonderry, said: “When we met the Secretary of State and David Sterling last year, we made clear that we expected urgent action to establish a redress scheme which meets the needs of victims.
“But we also put them on notice that Sir Anthony Hart’s recommendations fall some significant way short of victims’ expectations.
“For instance, Hart recommends a £7,500 standard payment with no account taken of how many years were spent in an abusive environment, whereas we believe £10,000 is a fairer starting point and that the length of time spent in care should be factored into the payment.
“We have engaged in consultation with government officials in good faith over recent months. We need assurances that government is listening to survivors rather than simply cutting and pasting the, at times flawed, recommendations from Sir Anthony Hart’s report.”
Fellow survivor and chairperson of victims’ group Rosetta Trust Gerry McCann welcomed Mr Sterling’s move to get the issue sorted, with or without a Stormont executive.
“But we don’t want a redress scheme and other measures which sell victims short after the extent of suffering which so many have endured,” he added.
The report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry was published in January 2017, just days after the collapse of power-sharing.