A HIGH Court judge will head up the board responsible for deciding on compensation claims for victims of historical institutional abuse.
Mr Justice Adrian Colton was announced as president of the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board earlier today.
The board will be responsible for processing compensation claims and ordering payments to victims and survivors.
It will be set up after a long-awaited bill to release compensation was passed by Westminster last week.
It is almost three years since the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry exposed serious sexual, physical and emotional abuse over decades at children's homes run by religious orders, charities and the state across Northern Ireland.
The HIA inquiry was headed by the late Sir Anthony Hart, who died earlier this year before the compensation bill could be passed.
Mr Justice Colton, who was called to the bar in 1993, was appointed as presiding coroner for Troubles legacy inquests in 2016.
"I am honoured to be asked by the Lord Chief Justice to be the President of the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board to implement recommendations made by my esteemed friend and colleague Sir Anthony Hart," he said.
"I have been advised by the Head of the Civil Service, David Sterling, that the Executive Office is committed to taking the necessary steps including the appointment of the nonjudicial members of the Board and the establishment of administrative arrangements for the compensation scheme so that I may start this very important work.
"The many victims of historical institutional abuse in Northern Ireland deserve redress and I will do everything I can to ensure they receive compensation as quickly as possible."
