Elsewhere, Mr Justice Huddleston has been appointed as president of the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board (HIA), taking over from Mr Justice Colton.

Mr Justice Colton has, for his part, taken up the role of leading judicial review judge and Mr Justice McFarland has taken up the role of presiding coroner from Mr Justice Huddleston.

At a ceremony at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning, Mr Justice Maguire, who began a distinguished career as a barrister in 1978, becoming Queen’s Counsel in 2006 before being appointed to the High Court in 2012, was sworn in to his new role.

Meanwhile, Mr Justice Huddleston paid tribute to his predecessor as he took on the new role as president of the HIA, saying: “I am honoured to be asked by the Lord Chief Justice to be the President of the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board.

“I will continue with the excellent work of my colleague, Mr Justice Colton, to ensure that the victims of historical institutional abuse in Northern Ireland receive compensation they deserve as quickly as possible.”

Mr Justice Colton said he was privileged to have been responsible for establishing the HIA Redress Board acknowledged the work of the HIA staff, panel members, the Interim Advocate, victims’ and survivors’ groups, solicitors for the applicants, the institutions/orders and the Public Records Office.

He said: “It is with thanks to their work that, despite the difficulties presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, the scheme envisaged by Sir Anthony Hart is now operating to provide victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse the compensation to which they are entitled.”