N Ireland child abuse victims get formal government apology

LONDON (AP) — The Northern Ireland government has issued a formal apology to people who were abused in orphanages and children’s homes, telling them that “the state let you down.” Ministers from all five political parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly read out apologies to survivors gathered at the Stormont government buildings near Belfast. Education Minister Michelle McIlveen of the Democratic Unionist Party told victims “We neglected you.” She said: “It was not your fault. The state let you down.” Friday’s formal apology came more than five years after it was recommended by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry. The years-long inquiry found shocking levels of physical, sexual and mental abuse at institutions run by the state, churches and charities between 1922 and 1995.