Abuse Survivors Fought Long and Hard for Justice

By Michael Brennan
Irish Independent
February 6, 2013

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/abuse-survivors-fought-long-and-hard-for-justice-3377908.html

THE survivors of the Magdalene laundries had to battle hard for the long-awaited report into the State's role in their detention.

They were excluded when former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern made an official state apology in 1999 to the victims of abuse in state-run institutions.

And they were excluded from the ˆ1bn compensation scheme set up as a result.

The official state position was that the Magdalene laundries were run by four religious congregations – and that the State had no involvement.

But there were several factors that led to the publication of the report which has found that the State was actually responsible for around one-quarter of the 10,000 women who ended up in the laundries.