Tynwald has accepted the recommendations put forward in its sitting to better safeguard children.

This came after Chief Minister Alfred Cannan apologised on behalf of the government for ‘past mistakes’ that contributed to children being abused at the Knottfield children’s home.

Joseph Marshall, who sexually abused young boys at Knottfield, was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and two other sexual offences after a five-day trial in December 2021.

The 85-year-old has been jailed for six years.

In the sitting on Tuesday there was a debate on the social affairs policy review committee’s report on historic child abuse at Knottfield and the Council of Ministers’ response to the report.

The Council of Ministers previously said it ‘regrets the delay’ in holding this debate, which was due to the court proceedings involved, and appreciates that added delays and further news coverage contribute to the ‘revictimisation and retraumatisation which is so damaging to those seeking to heal and find closure’.

Chair of the social affairs policy review committee Ann Corlett MHK moved that the report be received and 11 recommendations be approved.

The recommendations included asking that Tynwald moves forward with the opinion that the public interest demands the ‘most rigorous approach’ to crime against children, irrespective of the age and state of health of any alleged perpetrator.

It also asked that Tynwald authorise the social affairs policy review committee to receive and to report further evidence on the management of the Isle of Man Children’s Home and its successor bodies at all periods in their history.

Within the recommendations, Tynwald was asked to acknowledge that ‘serious mistakes were made’ in relation to the care of children between 1961 and 1983 and in relation to the subsequent treatment of former residents of the Isle of Man Children’s Home.

It was also asked to state that it ‘deeply regrets and sincerely apologises’ for its part in the failures of the island’s public authorities over many decades to detect and prevent the abuse of children in the home, to bring the perpetrators of abuse to justice, and to provide support and assistance to individuals who have been abused.