Payouts over children’s home abuse could be hit by power-sharing collapse
Compensation could be delayed for victims of residential home abuse in Northern Ireland following the predicted collapse of power-sharing, a campaigner said.
Recommendations from the first of the UK’s institutional children’s homes inquiries to report will be published later this month and are expected to include proposals for redress.
Many who suffered sexual, physical and emotional harm at the hands of religious orders or in state-run institutions are elderly and have pressed for compensation to be paid speedily.
Abuse survivor Jon McCourt said if decisions were not taken by ministers before the institutions collapsed then they could be delayed until decision-makers are in place.
“It is gut-wrenching for a lot of people.”
Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director, said the survivors remained focused on getting decisions from the Executive to implement the recommendations at the earliest possible opportunity.
“Among the losers here of the political uncertainty will definitely be the abuse survivors.”
The wider scenario for victims of the conflict is also uncertain while measures for dealing with the legacy of violence remain in political dispute.
Sinn Fein Assembly member Gerry Kelly said the British Secretary of State should release funds for legacy inquests into Troubles killings immediately.
“It is appalling that families, some of whom have been waiting 45 years, have not had their cases heard.
“The Lord Chief Justice has stated that failure to release funds for legacy inquests could frustrate the rule of law.”
A budget worth around £10 billion to pay for public services in Northern Ireland next year was supposed to be cleared by the end of March.
Ulster Unionist finance spokesman Philip Smith said staff in community groups dependent on support from Government will shortly be given protective redundancy notice.
He claimed the crisis in the health service, which has seen missed waiting list targets for cancer care, will further deteriorate as vital funding decisions are abandoned and there could be a 7% in-year cut to public services if the civil service takes over spending decisions.
He said: “An ongoing failure to produce a budget will see vital public services such as public transport and schools effectively running on bare minimum with only skeleton management at the top of local Executive departments as officials avoid taking any policy decisions.”
The head of the civil service in Northern Ireland is stepping down but announced on Monday that he would stay on until April.
The permanent secretary at the Finance Department, David Sterling, can release a sum worth three-quarters of the previous year’s budget and if there is no spending plan by the end of July he can use 95%.
Stormont hopes to receive powers to set corporation tax levels by April next year.
However a programme for government for the rest of this Assembly mandate, which had been expected to last another four years, has yet to be cleared.
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