14. Closing Remarks by the Chair

Lady Hallett: Well, thank you very much all indeed.

I confess that when I was reminded there were 36 core participants, 15 of whom wanted to make oral submissions, I was a little concerned, but may I congratulate everybody on the focus of their submissions and the timeliness of them.

I shall consider – I would say consider them all, but I’m going to have to say this in a moment, and I will, having considered them, issue a ruling – and I’m not going to say “consider them all” because there’s one decision that I’m afraid I cannot revisit and I shall not revisit, and I think it’s only fair to everybody that I make that plain this afternoon, and that is the decision as to the timetable of this module.

For reasons I’ll explain in a moment, this module, Module 3, will start in early September. As Ms Carey explained, it will last for ten weeks, with a two-week break in the middle to ensure that everybody is effectively prepared for the second half of the hearings.

Let me just give one or two of the reasons that have led me to that decision. As anybody who has ever read my terms of reference, they’ll know they are extraordinarily broad. They are the broadest terms of reference any statutory Inquiry has ever faced, and we have a huge amount of work to get through and, because I’ve set a tight timetable and because I want to get recommendations implemented as soon as possible, that means that I have to get through the work as soon as possible, and that means that the longer I allow for any one module, the more issues I add to the scope of any one module, then the more delay to other modules.

So at the moment 2025 has a whole sequence of modules that hope to have their hearings in 2025, including care and children and young people, and I have to say that if I made Module 3 go longer then I’d ask people: what would they say to the core participants and those interested in care and in children and young people?

I also have to say that if I do decide to add to the issues of Module 3, something will have to give, in other words there isn’t unlimited time. So although I fully understand why people have made the submissions that they have, and I fully understand the concerns, I’m afraid we have to live with the time and the resources that we have.

I also wish people to understand – and not everyone seems to understand this – that because an issue is not included in a specific module does not mean the Inquiry will not be considering it at all.

As many people will understand, there are a number of ways in which we can gather evidence. Oral hearings is part of it, but also we can – I can commission research, I can commission expert evidence, there are a number of different ways in which I can gather material. Oral hearings are just one part. They are an important part, because they hold people to account in public, but they are only one part of the Inquiry process, and I will not reach any conclusions until I have analysed and been assisted in the analysis of all the relevant written material before me.

So please do not think that because you do not see the express words “X, Y, Z” in a specific module that means that X, Y, Z will not be considered. I am exploring all the different ways at the moment with the team and, as soon as I’m able to do, I will make my plans for the future public. And I’m sorry that it takes time but, as I’m sure again those with Inquiry experience will understand, we learn a lot as we go along and there has been a huge amount on the plate of the Inquiry team, but I will make it public as soon as I can, because I know people want to know what’s going to happen so they can prepare themselves accordingly.

So I will make everything public when I can, I will make the ruling public when I can, and if people want to see the rulings or the written evidence to which I’ve just referred, they can always access the website.

So thank you all very much indeed.

I think the next public hearing is in Belfast, I think, at the end of April.

So thank you all for your help and for the constructive nature of the submissions, and that’s all for this afternoon.

Ms Carey: Thank you, my Lady.

(3.26 pm)

(The hearing concluded)