Dozens of survivors of historical institutional abuse (HIA) in Northern Ireland will receive more than £100,000 in total after their personal information was exposed in a data breach.
The Northern Ireland Executive set up an inquiry and investigation into historical institutional abuse. The inquiry covered historical abuse and historic sexual abuse of children under 18 who lived in children’s homes, borstals, training schools, juvenile justice centres, hospitals and orphanages between 1922 and 1995 in Northern Ireland.
An email newsletter circulated by the HIA Interim Advocate’s Office last May inadvertently revealed the names of around 150 abuse victims.
Belfast-based law firm KRW Law issued pre-action correspondence on behalf of 38 of those impacted by the breach.
Claims were made for misuse of private information, and violations of both data protection and human rights.
Commenting, Owen Beattie, associate solicitor at KRW Law, said: “We can confirm that a six-figure settlement has been reached for our clients.
“We commend the efforts of the parties involved in bringing this litigation to a favourable conclusion. We trust the necessary procedures have been implemented to ensure this grievous breach does not occur again.”
If you have been a victim of historical abuse you are entitled to compensation. You can make a free online enquiry with no obligation here.
