Campaigners have gone some way towards their aim of having a full scale inquiry into the extent of child abuse in Catholic and state-run homes in Northern Ireland.

Yesterday they won the backing of politicians at Stormont who called on the Executive to carry out an assessment of the abuse that occurred and also to establish helpline and counselling services.

In another welcome development the head of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean Brady, apologised to all those who were abused in Church-run homes and pledged that the Church would co-operate with any inquiry. In the past the Church hierarchy prevaricated on the issue and it is known that paedophile priests were allowed to carry on abuse long after they should have been handed over to the police here or in the Republic of Ireland.

An investigation into Church-run institutions in the Republic found that abuse of children was endemic and that thousands of children suffered at the hands of religious orders. It is inconceivable that similar abuse did not occur on this side of the border and the campaigners' call for an inquiry has much to commend it.

While inquiries can be protracted and expensive - the one in the Republic lasted nine years - the number of homes in Northern Ireland and the new atmosphere of openness around the subject should enable an inquiry into child abuse to be conducted relatively speedily and at acceptable cost.

Men and women who survived abuse in Church and state-run homes in Northern Ireland deserve to have their experiences brought to light and the perpetrators punished, or, at the very least, unmasked. What they endured was no less harrowing or traumatic than that experienced by children in the Republic. The campaign is a just one.