Summer school to honour clerical abuse victims

One of the country’s leading summer schools is to honour victims of clerical child abuse, it was revealed today.

The Humbert in Co Mayo will also give commemorative awards to investigative journalist Mary Raftery, who helped uncover the scale of the scandal in institutions and Judge Sean Ryan who headed the long-running inquiry into church and state run schools and reformatories.

The awards will be presented by Nobel Peace Laureate and school president, John Hume, during a day-long debate on child protection.

Humbert School director John Cooney said the honour will mark contributions of the Commission, the long hard campaign of survivors to have their testimonies believed and Ms Raffery’s documentaries which alerted the public to the extent of child abuse.

Leading campaigner Christine Buckley has been asked to consult with the Survivors of Institutional Abuse to select a representative to receive the award.

The Humbert, which runs from August 20-23 will also host several debates on the subject including 'The Catholic Church post Ryan Commission', with a panel of mainly religious speakers; 'The Irish State post-Ryan'; and 'How the media ’outed’ the Abuse Scandals'.