NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian
Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
theguardian.com, Monday 1 September 2014
Children as young as five were sent from Northern Ireland to Australian orphanages and other institutions where they were sexually and physically abused, the chairman of an inquiry into institutional child abuse has revealed.
Sir Anthony Hart, who is chairing the historical abuse inquiry, said witness evidence will show “in shocking terms” how children were subjected to “severe hardships, and grave sexual and physical evidence” when they arrived in the country.
The retired judge made his remarks during the latest session of the inquiry, held at Banbridge courthouse in County Down on Monday. This aspect of the largest public investigation into the abuse of children in state- and church-run homes is focusing on the treatment of 130 orphans and young people in care who were sent to Australia between 1946 and 1956.
Sixty-six former residents of these institutions have given evidence of how they were transported across the world without their consent. Many of those who have come forward will give evidence via video link over what happened to them under the scheme.
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