Lord Mayor Signs Book of Apologies for Magdalene Victims

By Claire O'Sullivan
Irish Examiner
June 17, 2013

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/lord-mayor-signs-book-of-apologies-for-magdalene-victims-234275.html

Kathleen Whelan was one of about a dozen former Magdalene laundry survivors who travelled to Cork’s City Hall to meet the Lord Mayor as he signed a book of apologies for the women.

At 17 years of age, Kathleen was sent to the Good Shepherd laundry in New Ross, where she spent eight years washing and ironing clothes without pay.

In 1968, when the New Ross laundry closed, the 25-year-old moved, with the nuns, to the Clifton convalescent home in Montenotte — run by the Good Shepherds.

Nearly 50 years later, she still remains in the care of the nuns. “Clifton was a totally different set up. We get paid for our work and everything,” she said. “That was because the health board had a part of it.”

Eventually she had to stop working. “My back and hips were at me. I wasn’t any good any more.”

Along with fellow Magdalene survivor, Miriam Malone, Kathleen is now resident at the Baile an Aoire units established for homeless women by the Good Shepherd nuns in Montenotte in Cork. She attends meetings of the Magdalene Survivors Together group and was overjoyed when the people of Kilkenny opened up a book of apologies for the former laundry women. The book is now due to travel to all counties where there was a Magdalene laundry.

“Our lives were robbed. There’s no doubt about that. Times were bad back then and we had to work hard but we weren’t abused, I can’t say that,” she says.

“The nuns have nothing much to do with us now though.”

Of the 118 women who spoke to the McAleese committee, 58 are still in the care of the religious orders. Many critics of the McAleese report believe it was these, very often institutionalised women, who said physical abuse did not take place at the laundries. The Ryan report told a different story.

While the McAleese report has been roundly praised by the Government, the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) is not happy with its contents. It said in a letter to Irish UN representative Gerard Corr that the probe was not independent and failed to adequately examine allegations of physical abuse, forced labour, and arbitrary detention. Felice Gaer of UNCAT called on the Government to ensure “that there is a full enquiry into all complaints of abuse”.

Miriam and many of the Magdalene survivors are wary of criticising the McAleese report as it brought about the apology which, in the words of fellow survivor Maureen Sullivan, “eventually acknowledged the wrongdoing by Church and State”. Many of them just want to see the Quirke redress scheme put in place quickly.

However, there is a growing body of activists refusing to accept the McAleese report as the official narrative of the laundries. Justice for Magdalenes, the group with brought the issue to UNCAT two years ago, raised concerns shortly after the report was published.

Tomorrow, the Irish Human Rights Commission, which called for a statutory inquiry into the laundries three years ago, will publish its follow-up report on the McAleese report.

It, too, is expected to find the interdepartmental report wanting.

Taoiseach warned on survivor redress scheme

The Magdalene survivor advocacy group which brought the plight of the women to the United Nations warned the Taoiseach it is not good enough to provide survivors with a “second rate” redress scheme.

Accepting a justice award from Labour Youth, Justice for Magdalene’s Claire McGettrick said recent reports that the women may have to face the religious orders at a reconciliation forum caused “terror” among survivors.

“I have to wonder, in the words of An Taoiseach on Feb 19, if we as a nation have once again ‘put away our conscience’? Survivors have had their trust irreparably broken and yet they trust too easily and submit to authority, often to unscrupulous individuals… Their selfless nature makes them easy prey.

“There are some who would have the women accept a token gesture, just enough to make them go quietly into their final days. A nice easy solution, taken care of behind closed doors — or in plain sight, in a deal ‘done by media’,” she said.

Calling for a State-run dedicated helpline for the Magdalene Fund to be advertised within Ireland and by Irish diplomatic missions abroad, Ms McGettrick said a transparent redress scheme will require an appeals process, independent monitoring and would have to be established on a statutory basis.

Referring to the many survivors who remain institutionalised in the care of nuns, she asked whether a guardian ad litem and permanent independent advocate would be provided to guarantee their rights. “And will free independent advice and advocacy assistance be made available to survivors and their families, to protect the women from those who would take from them?” she said.

Justice for Magdalenes was awarded the Jim Kemmy Thirst for Justice award by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore in Cork on Saturday night.