A major inquiry into historic child abuse at state and religious institutions in Northern Ireland is to begin its first public hearings, with dozens of Australian witnesses expected to give evidence.
The government-commissioned inquiry is looking at sexual, emotional and physical abuse claims dating from 1922 to 1995 at children's homes and orphanages, as well as penal institutions and hospitals.
So far, 434 people have applied to participate in the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, including 61 in Australia, where an inquiry team visited last year in an appeal for witnesses.
At least 300 people will give evidence in person or in writing between now and June 2015, with the final report due to be submitted to the Northern Ireland Executive by January 2016.
One of those who has spoken out is Margaret McGuckin, who says she suffered abuse at the hands of the Sisters of Nazareth nuns at a home in Belfast where she was placed by the government at the age of three.
"My earliest memory was just the coldness and the fear. Being locked away in dark cupboards. If you were crying, beaten for crying," she told BBC radio.
"Being humiliated and put down. Scalded with roasting hot water. Hunger, neglect, starvation, even being put out in a cold yard."
Now a campaigner for victims' rights, she said many people were still fighting to be heard.
"We have people in their 80s who are still waiting for justice and just for someone to listen," she said.
Two institutions in Londonderry run by the Sisters of Nazareth - St Joseph's at Termonbacca and Nazareth House - will be the focus of the first inquiry hearings at Banbridge in County Down.
Opening arguments were due to begin on Monday afternoon and last a few days, followed by a break, and then the first witnesses are due to appear in public at the end of January.
The inquiry was set up by the devolved Northern Ireland administration in May 2012 to establish whether there were systemic failings by institutions in their duty of care to children.
It has gathered evidence in private relating to 13 different institutions, run by religious orders, government and other social bodies.
Chairman of the inquiry Anthony Hart, a retired senior judge, will be supported by a panel of experts including former social services chiefs.
The investigation comes after a long-running public inquiry in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland uncovered endemic abuse in church-run children's homes dating back to the 1930s.
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