About the Independent Panel
The Executive Office (‘TEO’) set up the Truth Recovery Programme to act on the recommendations made in the Truth, Acknowledgment and Accountability Report. The integrated truth investigation will look further into the workings of Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries, and Workhouses in Northern Ireland, and the associated pathways and practices. It will involve two separate phases that will work together: a non-statutory Independent Panel (with no legal powers) and a full statutory Public Inquiry (with legal powers).
In April 2023, the TEO appointed a 10-person Independent Panel. It includes practitioners who are experts in six important areas and victims-survivors representatives with personal experience of the institutions and the adoption system.
The Independent Panel is collecting evidence in a number of ways, including from sources that already exist, archives / records research, engaging with the public and collecting testimonies from victims and survivors, their relatives and people who worked or volunteered for the institutions. Everything the Panel has set out to do is included in their Terms of Reference. When this work is complete, the Independent Panel will publish a report on its findings and recommendations, including on areas for the Public Inquiry to look into further.
On 22 May 2024, the Independent Panel published its Interim Report.
October 2024 - Drop-In Events
This October, the Truth Recovery Independent Panel is hosting a number of in-person drop-in sessions across Northern Ireland.
All events are free and informal. You are welcome to drop-in at any time – no registration needed - and stay for as long as you wish to.
The dates and locations for these events are:
Wednesday 16 October – Newry, Canal Court Hotel, 6.00pm – 9.30pm.
Tuesday 22 October – Belfast, Europa Hotel, 2.00pm – 4.00pm & 6.00pm – 8.00pm.
Wednesday 30 October – Derry / Londonderry, City Hotel, 2.00pm – 4.00pm & 6.00pm – 8.00pm.
Read the Independent Panel's blog for more information.
