Discussing Ireland's Lifelong Responsibility to the Survivors of Institutional Abuse

A panel discussion on Ireland’s lifelong responsibility to the survivors of institutional abuse report
will be launched via a virtual event tomorrow Friday 9th October at 3pm.

Fergus Finlay will host a panel discussion with Carmel McDonnell Byrne, survivor and founder of the
Christine Buckley Centre, Francis Treanor, survivor and board member of Caranua and Right of Place
Second Chance and Professor Alan Carr, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University College Dublin.

Please click on this link to register for place at this important launch here.

The report is the work of a partnership of seven organisations, Christine Buckley Centre for
Education and Support, Barnardo’s Origins, Caranua, One in Four, HSE National Counselling Service,
Right of Place Second Chance and Towards Healing, who came together to highlight and advocate
for action on five key ‘asks’ from the State for survivors of institutional abuse.

The report details the ongoing effects of the childhood trauma endured by survivors of institutional
abuse and looks at their ongoing and future needs:

The five ‘asks’ identified in the report are:

• Enhanced medical card for survivors and support with housing

• Continuation of free easily accessible counselling services for survivors and their family members

• Provision of advocacy supports for survivors in the long-term, including accessing public services,
linkage with support services, homelessness and addiction supports

• All medical, and public service staff working in a customer-facing role should receive trauma-
informed practice training on how to identify survivors and the different approaches to the support
they may require.

• Identification of supports needed by survivors based outside of Ireland

The partner organisations first came together on the 11th May 2019 to host a conference and
commemoration event to mark the 20th anniversary of the State apology to the survivors of
institutional abuse and the 10th anniversary of the publication of the Ryan Report. The Facing the
future together report is based on presentations to the conference.

The report’s recommendations are evidence-based and are derived from qualitative research from
respected academics, input from survivors and knowledge sharing from service providers with years
of experience.

If you have any questions please contact [email protected]