THERE has been an outraged reaction to a decision by the Northern Ireland Office minister Sir John Wheeler, against bringing the law on compensation for Northern Ireland's victims of childhood sex abuse into line with the rest of the UK.
The legislation to be retained in Northern Ireland says that a claim for state compensation must be made either within three years of the abuse or, in a child's case, within three years of his or her 18th birthday.
Victims of abuse are therefore denied compensation unless their allegations are proved by the time they are 21. In the rest of the UK, however, adult victims of previous sex abuse are eligible for compensation.
A letter to claimants said the system was not being brought into line with the rest of the UK because "the Secretary of State was concerned that to go down this route would be taking on an unknowable financial commitment at a time when there is intense competition for limited public funds, with the compensation budget under particular pressure.
This is taken as a reference, to the hundreds of compensation claims outstanding after Drumcree.
Ms Eileen Calder, a spokeswoman for the Rape Crisis Centre, said: "I don't believe that survivors of sex abuse should have, to pay for any kind of civil unrest which happens in Northern Ireland."
The Alliance Party spokeswoman on human rights, Ms Mary Clark Glass, called the decision "an absolute disgrace".
"The minister has shown insensitivity, not to say downright meanness, in blaming pressure on the Northern Ireland budget as one of the reasons for his decision," she said.
The Alliance councillor, Dr Philip McGarry, a consultant psychiatrist, said many victims of sex abuse as children found it difficult to come forward. He quite frequently saw people, usually women, in their late 20s and 30s, who presented with psychological symptoms which were clearly related to sexual abuse which had occurred many years before.