Jon McCourt pleads with MLAs not to let victims down and make compensation contribution a legal requirement

Transcript

00:00We recommend that any voluntary institutions found by the inquiry to

00:04have been guilty of systemic abuse should be asked to make an appropriate

00:10financial contribution to the overall cost of the HIA redress board and any

00:15specialist services recommended by the inquiry. That final recommendation I have

00:20listed as the stumbling block. It's the reason why we're here today. It is

00:26continually referenced as a recommendation as though it were set in

00:31stone. Surely it's within the legislative competence of this Assembly, of the

00:37Assembly, as it is now a devolved matter, to amend the Historical Institutional

00:42Abuse Act 2019 and move this from a recommendation to make it a legal

00:48obligation. Dealing with this tragic episode in our history has taken a toll

00:54on all of us, not just on, not just on victims and survivors of historical

01:04institutional abuse, but on our families, our friends, and our loved ones, including my

01:18colleagues that are sitting with us today. I've seen over the years the toll

01:22it's taken on them, but I've also seen the toll it's taken on members of this

01:26committee and other legislators across the political spectrum and the Assembly

01:35and the Executive Office staff who have worked diligently for every gain

01:40we have made on this journey. Outside agencies such as WAVE and

01:46Advice NI and Victim Support have worked with us, fought for us, cried with us in

01:50equal measure. In November 2008, when we first came to meet with the then First

01:57and Deputy First Ministers Peter Robinson and the late Martin McGuinness

02:00seeking an inquiry into historical institutional abuse, their parting words

02:05gave us real hope, and those parting six words were, we will not let you, let you

02:13down. I ask you now on behalf of all victims and survivors of historical

02:20institutional abuse to live up to that promise and don't let us down.