A PETITION calling for justice for former residents of institutions run by Catholic religious congregations in Northern Ireland was to be presented to the De La Salle Brothers in Dublin.It was to be received by Brother Pius McCarthy at the congregation's provincialate.
A former resident of one of the institutions, Margaret McGuckin, told The Irish Times yesterday that the petition consisted of approximately 6,000 names collected on the Lower Falls Road in Belfast.
She organised the petition with other former residents of such institutions in the North. She also said that, on foot of the same petition, a related motion had been passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly on November 2nd last, with cross-party support.
The motion expressed "grave concern" at the findings of the Ryan report in the Republic. It considered that "such neglect and abuse of children and young people's human rights must be subject to criminal law".
It recognised that children who were placed by Northern Ireland authorities in "establishments or settings where they became victims of abuse" were entitled to assessment of the extent of that abuse and neglect, and that this be reported to the Assembly.
The motion also called on the Northern Ireland Executive to provide funding for helpline and counselling services for former residents, and to work through the North/South Ministerial Council so that all-Ireland protections for children and vulnerable adults were in place as soon as possible.
Margaret McGuckin spent her childhood in a home run by the Sisters of Nazareth on Belfast's Ormeau Road.
She had been "ashamed of it my whole life" until she saw a BBC programme on the Ryan report last May.
It made her wonder why justice for former residents of the institutions "should stop at the Border", not least as the same religious orders were involved.
She and a small number of other former residents decided to launch a petition and to contact politicians in the Assembly. Her brothers had been at Rubane House in Kircubbin, Co Down. It was managed by the De La Salle congregation.
Separately yesterday, the delay by some religious congregations "in making reparation pledges" to a fund for former residents of institutions they had managed in the Republic has been condemned by the One in Four agency.
Its executive director, Maeve Lewis, also said that despite the Ryan report, former residents of the institutions who had taken civil actions against the congregations were still meeting with blank denials of their allegations.
She said yesterday that it was entirely unacceptable that six months after making commitments to make additional contributions, some congregations had not lived up to their commitments.
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