‘Judge never said a word about victims of the abuse’

THE wall of officialdom refused to crumble, right up to the very end.

Backed by the looming presence of two second row-type gardaí, the woman helping to co-ordinate the launch of yesterday’s report into decades of institutional abuse stood stoney-faced in front of abuse victims demanding to be allowed into the press conference. She was not for turning.

“By not allowing us in you know we are going to be deeply angry,” John Kelly, the co-founder of the Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA) group told her.