Public Apology
HIA Inquiry · Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry · Issued 20 January 2017 · Addressed to: Northern Ireland Executive
Government responseNorthern Ireland Executive: No response yet (Sep 2019)
DeliveryThe Executive Office (Northern Ireland) says completed (Mar 2022)Northern Ireland Executive says in progress (Feb 2022)
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
We recommend that the Northern Ireland Executive and those who were responsible for each of the institutions investigated by the Inquiry where we found systemic failings should make a public apology. The apology should be a wholehearted and unconditional recognition that they failed to protect children from abuse that could and should have been prevented or detected. We also recommend that this should be done on a single occasion at a suitable venue.
HIA Inquiry, Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry · 20 Jan 2017 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
The Inquiry asked the Northern Ireland Executive and responsible institutions to make a public apology. The Executive Office (Northern Ireland) stated in March 2022 that five Ministers had offered a public apology to victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse, describing action on the government apology but not institutional apologies (The Executive Office (Northern Ireland), Mar 2022). Northern Ireland Executive Ministers had stated in February 2022 that their apology on behalf of government would be followed by apologies from each of the institutions investigated by the Inquiry (The Executive Office (Northern Ireland), Feb 2022).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026.
About this summary
Government response
●Northern Ireland Executive · No response yet · 4 Sep 2019
No formal government response published. The Inquiry reported on 20 January 2017, the month the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed; the report The Executive Office and the Northern Ireland Office laid before Parliament in September 2019 records that, because of the collapse, the report and its recommendations had not yet been put to the Executive.
Delivery
●The Executive Office (Northern Ireland) says completed · 11 Mar 2022
Ministers Michelle McIlveen, Conor Murphy, Nichola Mallon, Robin Swann and Naomi Long have today offered a public apology to victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse.
From: Apology to victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse: Ministerial statements
●Northern Ireland Executive says in progress · 24 Feb 2022
As Ministers, we will deliver the apology on behalf of government. This will be followed by apologies from each of the institutions where systemic failings were found in the Hart Report.
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.