THE NORTH:THE SDLP has renewed calls for an inquiry into clerical child sexual abuse in Northern Ireland.
Party health spokesman Conall McDevitt is pressing Health Minister Michael McGimpsey to acknowledge that the Stormont Executive has a role in seeking redress on behalf of victims.
Mr McDevitt said the pope’s statement yesterday “must be a turning point”.
He noted that the Assembly had supported a motion last November calling for an inquiry similar to those conducted in the Republic.
“We are very concerned at the delay in the establishment of a working group to commission an assessment, as called for in the motion,” he said, “and we will continue to press the Minister to deliver his paper to the Executive so that survivors of clerical and institutional abuse can rightly seek the justice and redress that they are entitled to.”
Amnesty International has also called for an investigation into clerical sexual abuse in Northern Ireland.