Compensating victims of historic abuse in Northern Ireland remains a “big priority” for the British Government, their Secretary of State has insisted. Redress recommended by a Stormont-commissioned inquiry into historic institutional abuse, chaired by the late Anthony Hart, have been on ice for over two-and-a-half years due to the collapse of the devolved institutions. Anthony Hart speaking at a public meeting of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (PAul Faith/PA)The British Government has been under intense pressure to sanction the outstanding payments at Westminster. A redress scheme, in which victims would have been paid between £7,500 and £100,000, was one of the recommendations of the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry (HIA). “Some of the victims suffered abuse 40 or 50 years ago,” he said.

Source: Irish Examiner October 14, 2019 18:22 UTC