Debate contribution: Clerical Child Abuse

Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on 27 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Timothy Gaston

Party at the time

Traditional Unionist Voice

Date

27 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Clerical Child Abuse

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5345153

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Child sexual abuse is a crime of profound cruelty. Its effects do not fade with time. The trauma has destroyed and shaped lives, destroyed trust and left scars that many have carried silently for decades. Those who have come forward to speak about abuse suffered in faith-based and institutional settings have shown extraordinary courage. I join the proposers of the motion and the amendment in paying tribute to the survivors' reference group and others who have shared deeply personal experiences so that the truth might be known and justice pursued. The House must face an uncomfortable truth, however: the issue should not be before us in 2026. It should have been addressed properly 14 years ago. In November 2012, Jim Allister tabled an amendment to the Inquiry into Historical Institutional Abuse Bill calling for action in relation to clerical abuse. Had that amendment been accepted — had the political will existed at that point — many victims might have been spared 14 years of further dither and delay.

I am happy to give way.

My understanding is that it was all clerical abuse. Let us not confine it to one institution. Clerical abuse, in whatever setting it happened, was wrong. I will cover that later. We now find ourselves in the position in which independent research commissioned by the Executive Office and delivered to the First Minister and the deputy First Minister in July 2025 has not been published seven months later, never mind acted on. That delay is indefensible. I have a serious concern about the framework in which the issue is being examined. To examine abuse in only one institutional setting risks creating a distorted and incomplete picture. Abuse does not belong to one Church, one institution or one building. If our inquiries are limited to particular settings, many victims who were abused in settings outside the scope of those inquiries will simply be excluded. We need to learn from previous mistakes. If victims are abused in multiple settings, it is not good enough that only some of that abuse is recognised. The fact that that happens causes further profound mental distress. We need to take a genuinely holistic approach. We need to look at the abuse, not the location in which it occurred. There is a compelling case for a properly designed prevalence survey so that we can understand how widespread abuse has been in Northern Ireland as a whole. Without one, we risk building policy on partial evidence and drawing conclusions from an incomplete understanding of the scale of the evil. Before I conclude, I wish to place something on the record. There has been much legitimate criticism of the Executive Office today, but it would be entirely wrong not to note the efforts of someone who, with limited means, has genuinely sought to stand with victims and survivors. I refer to the Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse, Fiona Ryan. Ms Ryan has brought to that office not only professional competence but something far more important: compassion. Those who have dealt with her know that she listens and takes victims seriously. She has consistently sought to be a voice for people who, for decades, had no voice. She has pressed for action and, too often, has been met not with the support that she requires but with silence. The uncomfortable truth is this: when setting up the commissioner's office, the Executive Office starved it of the resources that it needed to do its job properly. An office charged with representing some of the most vulnerable and traumatised people in our society was left underfunded, understaffed and, at times, effectively marginalised. If the First Minister and the deputy First Minister are serious about getting justice for survivors, they should begin not with another announcement but with something far more basic: properly funding and empowering the very office that they created to stand up for survivors. I welcome the motion. It shines a spotlight on all clerical child abuse. I also commend Gerry for his amendment about protecting all records and making them readily available. We have found, in our vast array of evidence sessions on the mother-and-baby institutions, that, even in trusts, the conditions in which the medical records are being kept are not adequate or up to standard. I have major fears that, as we proceed and as people look for their medical records, those records either will not be found or will be in a condition that means that they are not recognisable. I commend the motion and the amendment.

757 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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