New Magdalene Report to Spark Flood of Claims

By Michael Lavery
The Herald
February 5, 2013

http://www.herald.ie/news/new-magdalene-report-to-spark-flood-of-claims-29050348.html

A 1,000-page report into State involvement in the Magdalene laundries is expected to lead to fresh calls for a compensation scheme for the women.

An 18-month investigation into the Catholic-run workhouses will formally reveal State involvement with Magdalene laundries and knowledge of the harrowing life women in the institutions endured between 1922 and 1996.

The report, due to be published this evening, will respond to allegations by former residents that the State colluded with the Catholic Church by illegally incarcerating thousands of women and girls and forcing them to carry out unpaid work.

detained

An estimated 30,000 single mothers and other women were detained or resident in 10 laundries throughout the State.

An estimated 30,000 single mothers and other women were detained or resident in 10 laundries throughout the State.

The report was prepared under the chairmanship of Senator Martin McAleese, who has now retired from politics, and the interdepartmental committee was set up in July, 2011, "to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalene laundries, to clarify any State interaction and to product a narrative detailing such interaction".

The report will not call for compensation or a Government apology to be delivered because Dr McAleese was prevented from doing this by his terms of reference.

Most of the women who were held in the laundries have died, with fewer than 1,000 still alive.

The report was presented to women who were in the laundries and their advocacy groups in Dublin this morning. It was also presented to the Government at its weekly meeting.

Survivors have called for a transparent and non adversarial compensation process for all to be set up, with pensions, lost wages, health and housing services and redress all accounted for. Steven O'Riordan, of the Magdalene Survivors Together group, said before the report was published that he hoped the report would lead to a scheme where they would be paid for work done in the laundries and secure them appropriate pensions.