Facilitator to aid talks with victims and bishops

AN independent person acting as an impartial arbiter is set to be appointed to help negotiations between survivors of institutional abuse and the bishops.

Following a meeting with the Irish Bishops’ Conference yesterday, John Kelly, the head of Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA), said it had been agreed that a “facilitator” would be put in place to improve communication and act as a go-between to assist both sides.

“We want to work out a roadmap for how to deal with the issues, so we suggested an independent person that will enable us to move things along,” he said.