A Catholic religious order has accepted notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth abused children while they were in the care of nuns in the North, a lawyer told a public inquiry yesterday.

Some Catholic nuns at a children’s home in the North were sadistic bullies, a former resident has claimed.

FROM 1859 to 1969, 105,000 children were taken into industrial homes in Ireland. They were often large and uninviting buildings, designed to make economies of scale, with staff morale poor and workers displaying aloofness from charges who may have been orphaned or separated from their mothers because they were born out of wedlock.

The inquiry into the abuse of children at residential homes in the North will examine the soul of society, a lawyer has said.

Two children’s homes run by the Catholic Church will be investigated first as part of a major inquiry into institutional abuse in the North, it has been revealed.