Columnist’s line on false claims insults victims of institutional abuse

I REFER to Hermann Kelly’s outrageous column (August 21) alleging fleecing of taxpayers and fraudulent claims before the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

It is painfully clear Mr Kelly has no experience of the standards of proof applicable to the presentation and conclusion of a Redress Board case. It is equally clear he has no knowledge or understanding of the full extent of institutional abuse in industrial schools in Ireland between 1930 and 1985.

Mr Kelly’s breathtaking ignorance of such matters does not restrict him, however, from promoting his book which he does by seriously inaccurate and loosely worded statements which only serve to further insult and demean the survivors and non-survivors of State-sponsored institutional abuse.