FAMILY and friends of Billy McConville gathered yesterday to remember the Belfast man who died without having ever received an apology for the abuse he suffered as a child while in the care of the state.
Mr McConville died last July aged 50 of a rare type of cancer.
Two weeks earlier he spoke to The Irish News to urge the British government to implement the recommendations of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, into the abuse of children in Church and state care.
Mr McConville and his siblings were placed in the care of the state after their widowed mother was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1972.
His brothers Jim and Thomas, along with nieces, nephews and friends, gathered at WAVE trauma centre in north Belfast to remember Billy's life and plant a rose bush in the grounds beside a tree dedicated to their mother.
Jim said one year on it is heartbreaking that nothing has changed for childhood abuse victims.
"Billy spoke out knowing it was too late for him but hoping that it would help other victims," he said.
"One year on and nothing has changed and people are still left in limbo which is heartbreaking."
Meanwhile, members of campaign group Savia visited Stormont yesterday where they met with the DUP to push for support in having Westminster legislate to allow redress, including compensation, recommended by HIA inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart.
Following the meeting DUP leader Arlene Foster said: "The scale of failure to protect our most vulnerable children is astonishing.
"The absence of an Executive has placed a hurdle in the way of making progress for victims.
"Nigel and I will be speaking with the Secretary of State, the head of the civil service as well as the Chief Constable. It is important that in the absence of devolution, these victims are not forgotten.”
Deputy leader Nigel Dodds said: "We want to see the Hart recommendations progressed so that victims can receive the help and support they need. At the very least, we should be able to have a pre-legislative consultation exercise.
"Having heard the accounts from abuse victims, it has reaffirmed our view that if Sinn Féin is going to continue boycotting the Assembly and Executive, then we need to have a decision-making mechanism in Westminster.
"If action does not happen, a generation will die without their needs met. Our system cannot continue to neglect and fail again those who have suffered such an horrific case of injustice."
