Dr. Mary Lodato:

One of the things I have thought about is creating a forum where survivors can come and express their views.

I proposed a forum like this throughout the United Kingdom. In the project in which I am involved, I got the survivors around the table and basically asked them what they needed and wanted to improve their lives. The responses were short and to the point. The survivors just wanted to have better quality of life, to be respected and to tell their story. They referred to simple things, such as their desire to return to Ireland to make peace with this land after the atrocities that they had experienced. They have the facility but the Government needs to put a model in place, although not like the one put in place through the Irish centres throughout Britain whereby the pots of money made available to facilitate and support survivors were never ring-fenced, meaning the money went everywhere except to the people who needed it. I propose a similar model to that in the UK but the money should be ring-fenced. Survivors should be spoken to and asked what they want. We should then try to feed into the committee or forum.