Those victims who felt strong enough to face it showed up at the plush
Crowne Plaza hotel on the outskirts of Belfast yesterday to hear
retired judge Sir Anthony Hart deliver the findings of his inquiry into
historic child abuse.
The luxurious ballroom in which he summarised the Historic
Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry was a world apart from the bleak,
cold, loveless institutions where many of those present had spent their
childhoods. Some couldn't face it and stayed away, recent political events have
taken their toll on those who fear having relived their traumatic
childhoods, the report that finally vindicates them might be left to
gather dust.