STORMONT must prioritise a memorial and public apology to victims of institutional abuse, a human rights lawyer has said.
Solicitor Claire McKeegan, of Phoenix Law, who represents the majority of abuse victims, has written to the executive to ask when an apology will be made.
In the letter written on behalf of Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (Savia), Ms McKeegan said the HIA inquiry's outstanding recommendations must be progressed, following the restoration of power-sharing at Stormont earlier this month.
"Two issues that can and should therefore be addressed immediately are the HIA Inquiry recommendations with respect to (i) a public apology and (ii) a public memorial," she wrote.
It is 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.
It recommended compensation payments, an apology, a public memorial and care packages for victims and survivors.
The process stalled after Stormont collapsed in January 2017. Redress legislation was only agreed at Westminster late last year.
The first redress payments are expected to be given in late spring.
The letter said that an apology to abuse survivors was a "necessary minimum" and asked when and where it will be made.
"These survivors, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable, have waited more than long enough for such an appropriate apology," the letter read.
The letter asked the executive to "immediately arrange for an appropriately wholehearted and unconditional apology to be provided to survivors of abuse, by the NI Executive and by all those responsible for operating and overseeing the institutions investigated by the Inquiry".
The HIA inquiry also recommended that a memorial to abuse victims and survivors be set up either in Parliament Buildings or the grounds of Stormont.
The report said the design of the memorial should be chosen by a competition run by the Arts Council.
It said representatives of abuse survivors and victims should help select the winning design.
Ms McKeegan said there was "no reason that the implementation of this proposal should be delayed any further".
Margaret McGuckin from Savia said an apology should be made before the first redress payments.
"It is (a) torture which will always remain with us," she said.
Ms McGuckin said she wanted an apology at Stormont but also hoped that a similar one could be made at Westminster.
"A memorial must be in Parliament Buildings, in the main hall," she said.
"It has to be somewhere where everyone can see."
A spokeswoman for the Executive Office said: "Ministers are committed to delivering on the recommendations set out in the Inquiry report and will wish to take account of the views of all the victim and survivor groups to ensure these matters are taken forward in a way that best meets their needs and expectations."
