Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Inquiry can’t take 6 months says survivor
A SURVIVOR of a mother and baby home has said she wants to see a public inquiry now, not in six months’ time.
Adele, 69, who spent time at the Marianvale home in Newry, Co Down, as a teenager, has called for the Executive to step up.
Stormont has committed to an independent investigation shaped by survivors to be completed within six months.
Arlene Foster said a statutory public inquiry may be the outcome of that process.
But Adele said: “The women are becoming much older and have many and varied health issues and the longer it goes on, many will die.
“We need an open and transparent public inquiry, very much led by the survivors.
“I’m not totally impressed, a public inquiry is necessary and what we deserve.
CONCERNS
“It needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed promptly.
“It’s baby steps in the right direction but it hasn’t gone far enough.”
Eunan Duffy also expressed concerns, both about the report and the length of time it has taken.
Adopted at a young age, he discovered in 2016 that his birth mother had been placed at the Marianvale home and has been campaigning for what happened there over decades to be exposed.
Mr Duffy described himself as one of thousands who came through the system.
He said he felt disappointed that the report had not delved further into cross-border adoptions as well as the potential of babies being buried in the grounds of homes and further queried why the report had taken so long to complete.
Mr Duffy also stressed the importance of cross-border co-operation in the investigation of the institutions.
He said: “I told Arlene Foster and Michelle O’neill that we can’t go forward until we have raised all the issues of the past.”