Kincora Boys' Home

The Kincora Boys' Home was a home for working boys in Belfast that was the scene of a notorious child sex abuse scandal.

The scandal first came to public attention in January 1980 after a news report in the Irish Independent. On 3 April 1980 three members of staff at the home, William McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains, were charged with a number of offences relating to the systematic abuse of children in their care over a number of years. All three were later convicted and jailed. Mains the former warden received a term of six years, Semple a former assistant warden, five years and McGrath four years. t

McGrath was also the leader of an obscure loyalist paramilitary group, called Tara.

Allegations were later made that the Royal Ulster Constabulary had been informed of the abuse at the home for years previously, but had not moved to prevent it. In his 1999 book The Dirty War, Martin Dillon claims that McGrath may have been employed by MI5 since the 1960s. The tabloid press then linked the home with a whole series of establishment figures without any evidence being provided.

Dr Ian Paisley, leader of the DUP and moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church, was accused of failing to report the fact of McGrath's homosexuality to the relevant authorities although he denied ever being advised by his informant, a church member, Miss Valerie Shaw, that McGrath worked in a boys' home. McGrath was himself married with children.

In response to growing coverage in the media, the Eastern Health and Social Services Board decided to institute a policy of not employing "homosexuals" in any caring roles . Some perfectly innocent individuals in other homes were discovered and dismissed. Although the policy was finally overturned by the Northern Ireland Department of Health and Social Services, the damage was done and an inevitable chill factor set in.

A "private inquiry" was set up in 1982 by James Prior, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State under the Commissioner of Complaints, Stephen McGonagle, to deal with these allegations, but it collapsed after three of its members resigned. Debates on Kincora in the Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 22 March and 9 November 1983. Another inquiry, under Judge William Hughes, was then announced in January 1984.

In December 1985, Judge Hughes reported after his lengthy public inquiry. The view that there was a more extensive 'ring' operating at the home was not accepted. This inquiry reported many years before abuse on an extensive scale was uncovered in care homes in the Irish Republic and Britain.