15 November 2019
Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board President
15 November 2019
APPOINTMENT OF MR JUSTICE COLTON AS PRESIDENT OF
HISTORICAL INSTITUTIONAL ABUSE REDRESS BOARD
Summary of
Judgment
The Lord Chief Justice today
announced that he will appoint Mr Justice Colton as President of the Historical
Institutional Abuse Redress Board.
The Historical Institutional
Abuse Redress Board will be responsible for receiving and processing
applications for, and ordering payments of, compensation to victims and
survivors of historical institutional abuse.
In a statement, Mr Justice Colton
said:
“I am honoured
to be asked by the Lord Chief Justice to be the President of the Historical
Institutional Abuse Redress Board to implement recommendations made by my
esteemed friend and colleague Sir Anthony Hart.
I have been advised by the Head of the Civil Service, David Sterling,
that the Executive Office is committed to taking the necessary steps including
the appointment of the non-judicial members of the Board and the establishment
of administrative arrangements for the compensation scheme so that I may start
this very important work. The many
victims of historical institutional abuse in Northern Ireland deserve redress
and I will do everything I can to ensure they receive compensation as quickly
as possible.”
NOTES TO
EDITORS
The Board is established by the
Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Act 2019 (“the Act”). The commencement of the Act and the date of
the establishment of the Board will be announced by the Executive Office. Mr Justice Colton’s appointment will take
effect from that date.
Schedule 1 to the Act provides
for the Lord Chief Justice to appoint a person as the President of the
Board. He is also to appoint judicial
members who must either hold or have held office as a judge of the Court of
Judicature of Northern Ireland or as a judge or deputy judge of the county
court of Northern Ireland. The Executive
Office is to appoint persons to serve as other members of the Board. The other members must have professional
qualifications or experience in the field of health or social care which the
Executive Office considers relevant.
An application for compensation
will be determined by a panel appointed by the President which will consist of
one judicial member, who is the chair of the panel, and two other members. The procedure for determining applications is
set out in the Act. Applications must be
made within five years of the establishment of the Board.
The Executive Office has
indicated to victims’ and survivors’ groups that, before Christmas, it will
give a timeline for the remaining stages of implementation. The Executive Office can be contacted for
more details: Libby Kinney (libby.kinney@executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk,
028 9037 8207 or 07736 4811139) http://www.executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk
The Executive Office can be contacted
ENDS
If you have any
further enquiries about this or other court related matters please contact:
Alison Houston
Judicial Communications
Officer
Lord Chief Justice’s Office
Royal Courts of Justice
Chichester Street
BELFAST
BT1 3JF
Telephone: 028 9072 5921
E-mail: Alison.Houston@courtsni.gov.uk