Excerpt from Home Affairs Editor Neil Mackay ~ lawyer ~

Excerpt from Home Affairs Editor Neil Mackay ~ lawyer ~

MORE than 1000 victims of institutionalisedabuse in Scottish children’s homes run bychurches and charities have accused theScottish Executive and the First Ministerof insulting and betraying them by refusing to set up a public inquiry into the ill-treatmentand sexual assaults they suffered whilein care.Abuse victims petitioned the Executiveasking for Scotland to tackle the legacyof abuse in residential care by priests,nuns and charity staff over recent decadesby setting up a public inquiry similar to onesrecently established in Ireland and Australia.In Ireland, the government apologised tosurvivors and set about making financialpayments to all victims.However, Peter Peacock, the minister foreducation and young people, has refusedto set up any inquiry, saying that he doesn’tbelieve it would “meet the needs of survivorsor be in the public interest”.