The call comes following an investigation by Detail Data into allegations of removal and forced adoption of newborn babies, which also uncovered “shockingly” high infant mortality rates for babies in children’s homes adjacent to the Mother and Baby Home run by the Good Shepherd Sisters on Belfast’s Ormeau Road.

Oonagh McAleer, chairperson of the Birth Mothers and their Children for Justice NI campaign group, said: “We demand the truth be told now, at long last. We demand a public inquiry.

“There is an inquiry happening right now in the Republic of Ireland. Are we worth less to our government? Does our suffering not count?

“We have been asking the Executive to set up an inquiry for years. And, for years, Ministers have brushed us aside. No more. We want truth and justice and we want it now.”

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland programme director of Amnesty International, which is supporting calls for an inquiry, said: “Women in Northern Ireland have told Amnesty that they suffered arbitrary detention, forced labour, ill-treatment, and the removal and forced adoption of their babies - criminal acts in both domestic and international law.

“In 2013 Amnesty submitted a briefing paper to the Northern Ireland Executive supporting the case for a public inquiry into abuses in these Homes.

“Sadly, Stormont has ignored victims’ calls for an inquiry for years. That cannot continue. After the June 29th talks deadline, either the government in Stormont or at Westminster must deliver a human rights compliant investigation into the allegations of systemic human rights abuses at these institutions.”