The Journal
July 4, 2011
http://www.thejournal.ie/calls-for-unofficial-state-involvement-in-magdalene-laundries-to-be-accounted-for-169160-Jul2011/
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| Still from the 2002 film The Magdalene Sisters |
THE JUSTICE FOR Magdalenes group is calling on an inter-departmental committee set up to clarify the State's interaction with the Magdalene Laundries to take into account "unofficial ways in which the State was involved".
The Irish Times reports that Maeve O'Rourke, a lawyer who has represented the JFM group, has cited Gardaí returning women to the laundries as an example of unofficial State involvement.
The committee, which will be chaired by Dr. Martin McAleese, will seek to clarify State interaction with the Magdalene Laundries.
At a meeting of the Irish Women Survivors Support Network in London at the weekend it was stated that there is already enough evidence of State involvement for the women to at least receive pensions for the work they did.
The Justice for Magdalenes group will host a public forum in UCD tomorrow in order to present its Narrative of State Interaction with the Magdalene Laundries document, which is several hundred pages long. The document highlights involvement across a number of government departments, and also details the funding sources of various religious orders for the laundries.
The goup is also presenting the document to the Justice Minister Alan Shatter this week.
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