Abuse victims urged to claim

Thousands of children were abused by members of religious orders

Victims of child abuse in Irish care homes run by religious orders, but who now live in England, may be missing out on compensation they are entitled to.

Last year the Irish government struck a deal with the Catholic Church to compensate the thousands of victims who lived in homes run by religious orders in Ireland between the 1930s and the 1970s.

The compensation deal has been extensively publicised in the Irish Republic, but it is feared many in England may not have heard about it.

A meeting is being held at the Britannia Adelphi hotel in Liverpool on Wednesday to inform survivors of their rights.

Anne Loftus, 67, says she was abused by nuns in an Irish orphanage as a child and is working to get compensation.

She said she does not know what she would say to the nuns if she saw them again.

'Bitter, twisted'

"If I did, I would say to them why did you do this," she told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"It is very difficult to talk about it because they were very hard, bitter and twisted people."

The Irish government has faced severe criticism over the compensation deal in the Republic, with many former victims saying the Church has been let off lightly.

The Church agreed to pay around 130m euros (£92m), which at the time was thought to be about half of the estimated bill.

It followed a lengthy inquiry into institutional child sexual and physical abuse.

But a report from Ireland's auditor-general suggests there could be up to 11,000 compensation claims leading to a total bill of about 1bn euros (£710m).

Dail debate

In the Dail, the Irish parliament, opposition politicians said taxpayers would end up paying for the shortfall, and the government was accused of recklessness.

Enda Kenny, the leader of Fine Gael, the largest opposition party, called on the government to go back to the religious orders and tell them they have a moral obligation to pay more of the bill for compensation.

But Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said the agreement had been in the best interests of the victims and of the state - who had not wished to bankrupt the religious orders.

"The matter was not a simple one," he said. "I believe it was the right decision."