BishopAccountability.org
	Clerical Abuse Victims Meet Belfast Mayor UTV July 5, 2011 http://www.u.tv/News/Clerical-abuse-victims-meet-Belfast-Mayor/35957287-4d3f-44a1-b29a-ab7ef8d5da31 [with video] Victims of institutional abuse say their meeting with the Mayor of Belfast was "another step on the road to full acknowledgement of past wrongs". Support group, Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse met Niall Ó Donnghaile outside the Nazareth House on the Ormeau Road on Tuesday morning. Among those at the meeting was Deirdre O'Donoghue, who was abused at the former children's home for eight years before leaving in 1967. The 55-year-old grandmother travelled from her home in Yorkshire to meet the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor and tell her story as part of the group's campaign for justice. "I was a small child when I was taken into care, along with my two sisters and two brothers. We girls were sent to Nazareth House, but I was only able to see my sisters through the iron gates that separated the different yards for children of different ages. "I was hit repeatedly with a stick and a strap. It got so bad that I ran away, but I was brought back by the police. A nun dragged me up three flights of stairs by my hair, beat me with a stick and locked me in a storeroom. She said I could not come out while I was crying: I was there for a long time," said Mrs O'Donoghue. "It wasn't just me, it was happening to other children. There was always someone getting a beating. Nothing changed in the eight years I was there. The thing is, no-one thought to complain about it, we thought no-one would listen. I have spoken to people over the years and found out they had similar stories to tell. "But I never spoke publicly about it until I was in my 40s. I was horrified when I spoke to my brothers, who were in another institution and learned they too had been beaten and sexually abused. Belfast Mayor Niall Ó Donnghaile described the meeting as "deeply moving": "No child should suffer like these victims did in institutions in this city and elsewhere in years past. "These survivors have turned their own awful experiences as children into a powerful call for justice. It is a call that I heard loud and clear today and it is a call which I am happy to echo." The group is calling for an independent public inquiry into the abuse and for the establishment of a redress process. A taskforce was set up by the Executive in December after it announced that an investigation will be held into institutional abuse. It has been consulting with victims groups in a bid to establish the basis for any inquiry. Patrick Corrigan, of Amnesty International, who supports their campaign, said: "These people have waiting a long time for acknowledgement and recognition. Meeting with the Lord Mayor is another step on their road to justice. "Next it is the turn of the Northern Ireland Executive to deliver the sort of independent public inquiry into past institutional abuse which will finally uncover the truth of the abuse that took place in institutions like Nazareth House and others."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.