NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter
Sixty-six people have applied to give evidence about the alleged abuse of child migrants from Northern Ireland, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has said.
More than 100 children were sent to Australia in the 1940s and 1950s. Most were transferred by Catholic religious orders, like the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers, who ran care homes.
Witnesses will address chairman Sir Anthony Hart’s public hearings or a private acknowledgement forum. Most will speak using a video-link.
A spokeswoman for the inquiry said: “The witnesses being asked to provide evidence to the oral hearings have been chosen because they can describe the events which occurred to them before they left Northern Ireland when they were sent as child migrants to Australia.”
The treatment of young people, orphaned or taken away from their unmarried mothers, in houses run by nuns, brothers or the state is a key concern of the retired High Court judge’s inquiry which is being held in Banbridge, Co Down, and was ordered by ministers.
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