Fiona Ryan will leave to take up a Chief Executive position in a statutory agency in the Republic of Ireland.
The Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse will leave her role to take up a new post in Dublin.
Fiona Ryan was appointed as Commissioner in December 2020 by the then First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill. The appointment came as part of a series of recommendations from the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Report. The Commissioner was appointed for an initial five-year term and, following a statutory review, the term was extended until December 2027.
The Commissioner will take up her new role in August.
During her time in office, the Commissioner has advised and engaged on a series of Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry recommendations including the State Apology to victims and survivors, and the installation of a permanent memorial to victims and survivors at Stormont. She also highlighted the challenges experienced by many survivors on a range of issues and the 1 in 5 survivors of child abuse contacting her Office who were not within her legislative remit.
In recent months, the Commissioner also published a research consultation report on supports and services to victims and survivors of non-recent/historical institutional child abuse, reaffirming the need for the continued delivery of supports and services to survivors as they age, including specialist services. She has consistently stated that services need to be available to survivors for the course of their lives.
The Commissioner’s Office has engaged with more than 1,300 survivors since she first took up post. She has implemented a series of awareness initiatives and campaigns that focused on reaching survivors living in and outside Northern Ireland, to increase their awareness of supports, services and financial redress.
Fiona Ryan said:
“Leading the Office of the Commissioner and advocating on behalf of survivors of non-recent/historical institutional child abuse has been one of the greatest honours of my life. I am grateful to more than 1,300 victims and survivors who have engaged with me and my team. What survivors shared with us has been fundamental to ensuring that we represent their needs to policy and decision-makers, service providers, elected representatives and others.
“My ultimate thanks go to the victims and survivors, their families, survivor groups, their representatives and my Advisory Panel. I was honoured to represent their interests and add my voice to theirs. Above all, I wanted survivors to know; we see you; we hear you; we believe you. The experiences they shared about their lives before, during and after their time in institutions will stay with me forever.”
“It is of particular significance that one in five survivors who contact our Office fall outside my legislative remit. This underscores the scale of need, and the trust survivors of non-recent child abuse have placed in this Office. I have made multiple calls for a prevalence study in Northern Ireland that will measure the true scale of non-recent/historical child abuse, so that we can understand better the experiences of survivors and adequately plan and deliver services now and in the future.
My thanks to all those in specialist and general services providing vital supports to survivors here and elsewhere.
I also want to acknowledge and thank my own staff, whose professionalism, compassion and unwavering commitment ensure survivors are listened to, supported and treated with dignity and compassion.”
“I would like to formally record my sincere thanks to the First Minister and deputy First Minister for giving me the opportunity to be Commissioner and for their continued support in ensuring that vital supports and services remain available to victims and survivors, and for their clear commitment to sustaining these essential provisions.”
ENDS
For more information, contact:
Arlene O’Connor
Brown O’Connor Communications
M: 07736 049754
Carla Hannan
Brown O’Connor Communications
M: 07943 173527
Notes to Editor:
- Fiona Ryan was appointed as the first Northern Ireland Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse in 2020 by the First and deputy First Ministers.
- The Commissioner’s role is to represent and promote the interests of victims and survivors who were abused as children in residential institutions in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1995, as set out in the Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Act 2019.
- The Commissioner has a statutory duty under the Act to encourage the provision and the coordination of relevant services in Northern Ireland to victims and survivors.
- The Office of the Commissioner is not a direct service provider but provides victims and survivors with information on how to access supports and services.
- Supports and services include specialist services, general health services and community and family-based supports. The Victims and Survivors Service (VSS) and its community partners have been supporting victims and survivors of non-recent/historical institutional child abuse with specialist services since December 2020.
- To read the Commissioner’s Consultation Report on Supports and Services, click here.