Speaking after today’s meeting with Karen Bradley, which followed a meeting with Alliance MLAs and the Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA) group, Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn said the recommendations of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry should be implemented in full.
“We raised this matter with the Secretary of State, among other things, and were assured she realises the severity of the issue and will not let it fall by the wayside. The victims and survivors deserve justice now, they have waited long enough.
“The preference is for the issue of redress to be dealt with by local MLAs, however, the political impasse is having a devastating effect – survivors are dying without having seen the compensation they are entitled to. I believe it is certainly in the public interest to have no more delays.
“We will also be writing to the Department for Finance to explore the possibility of installing a memorial to the victims and survivors in the grounds of Stormont, to mark the suffering they went through, while also paying tribute to their long campaign for justice.”