Ahern under fire over institutional abuse remarks

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern sparked outrage yesterday when he said he didn’t believe that thousands of people had suffered residential abuse.

He said a national advertising campaign was encouraging more claims but said he believed the State's overall liability would not be enormous.

"I hope it doesn't run into thousands of cases because I frankly don't believe there were thousands of people that would have suffered these abuses over the years," Mr Ahern said.