British services urged to ‘screen’ Irish victims

BRITISH mental health services and homeless agencies should be trained to help ‘screen’ Irish people whose lives were devastated by institutional abuse, it was claimed.

The Federation of Irish Societies (FIS) said there was a “lost generation” of Irish people who suffered abuse at the hands of the congregations and others and whose attempts to leave it behind by emigrating had seen them fall on hard times.

FIS chief executive Jennie McShannon said the pain and anger caused by institutional abuse had, for some people, been exacerbated by moving to a Britain that was, at that stage, not receptive to them.

She said many Irish people had battled problems with alcohol misuse and violence as a result of the abuse they suffered as children.

FIS member agencies – three in London, and also in Manchester, Coventry and Sheffield – provided support services for those seeking redress for the abuse they suffered. She said the service in Sheffield alone dealt with between 350 and 500 people. But she said there were many others who were not in a position to enter the redress procedure, sometimes because of problems with alcohol, or because they were sleeping rough. Even those who had managed to forge careers and marriages in Britain were still haunted by the abuse they suffered as children, she said.

“There are a lot of our service users who are not destitute, but there are the hidden victims,” Ms McShannon said. “People have been coming in to the services and have started to go through [the commission’s report]. The services have reported the stress even just around the report coming out.

“It has been very traumatic for a lot of people. Some people have reported feeling ignored.”

She said there had been a shortage of people taking up the counselling that was offered under the redress system, as many people felt that compensation would bring them closure. In the event, many found that money did not bring closure, she said.

Ms McShannon said it was important to try and make mainstream services understand the particular experiences of Irish people who suffered institutional abuse.

“There should be screening and then provision of appropriate support,” she said, adding that this could mean training for those working in mental health and homeless support agencies.