23 May 2001:

FAMILY SERVICES SUPPORT CENTRE

Justice for the Forgotten welcomes the decision of the Government to provide funding for the establishment of a Family Service Support Centre. The Dublin and Monaghan families acknowledge this as the first tangible expression of support for the needs of the victims in the past 27 years.

Among the core functions envisaged for the Family Service Support Centre, in addressing the bereaved families and survivors’ unmet needs, will be:

• To provide a personal support service to bereaved relatives and survivors in the context of a ‘FamilyService Support Programme’ under the guidance of a suitably qualified Programme Director.
  
• To provide a meeting-point and a point of contact for bereaved relatives and survivors.
  
• To act as an information resource for families.
  
• To co-ordinate responses to elements of the Victims’ Commission Report not yet addressed and to provide support for individual unmet needs.
  
• To provide support for families in the context of resumed inquests.
  
• To provide support to victims of atrocities committed in the State, and to victims of atrocities committed on the island of Ireland, resident in the State.
  
• To provide support for families with the Joint Houses of the Oireachtas Justice Committee hearings, on the Report of the Independent Commission, when they occur.
  

We urge the Government to move now to implement the recommendations of the Victims’ Commission. This would include a victims’ pension and a review of the awards made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal. We appreciate that these reforms may take some time. However, immediate relief could be granted now by the implementation, without delay, of the Victims’ Commission recommendation that an acknowledgement payment of £10,000 be made to each bereaved family, and by paying the continuing medical expenses for those injured.