Public inquiry must address ‘great scandal’ of NI mother and baby homes

Dr Maeve O’Rourke, Deirdre Mahon and Professor Phil Scraton outside Stormont (Truth Recovery Design Panel)

The “great scandal” of mother and baby homes, Magdalene Laundries and workhouses in Northern Ireland must be investigated by a public inquiry, an independent panel has recommended.

The Stormont-commissioned experts also called for a non-statutory independent panel that would run in parallel to the inquiry and allow those who were sent to the institutions, and their families, to give testimony in a less adversarial format.