Magdalene Group Refutes ‘misinformation’ Claims

By Conall O Fatharta
Irish Examiner
April 13, 2015

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/magdalene-group-refutes-misinformation-claims-323567.html


Justice For Magdalenes Research (JFMR) has hit back at Government claims that it is issuing “factually incorrect” statements on the implementation of the Magdalene redress scheme.

The group was referring to allegations made by Equality Minister Aodhan O Riordain during a Seanad debate concerning the provision of health services to Magdalene survivors.

JFMR has argued that what is being offered by the Government in its Redress Bill in terms of the health package for survivors is not what was recommended by Justice Quirke.

Mr O Riordain responded by saying this claim is “factually incorrect” and accused the group of spreading “misinformation” and issuing “factually incorrect” press releases on the issue.

“When a press release or a statement, which is factually incorrect, is issued, as Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, I have to point to what is correct and what is incorrect,” he said.

The Irish Examiner understands that the Department of Justice has written to some Magdalene survivors in recent weeks, advising them that there had been “some confusion” in relation to the provision of medical services and that the Government was committed to “fully implementing all of the recommendations made by Judge Quirke”.

In a statement, JFMR said it had re-entered the political arena, after ending its campaign in May 2013, because “to remain silent [on the implementation of the redress scheme] would have gone against our ethos to ‘first do no harm’.”

JFMR said what was outlined in the Bill, and in statements by the Minister for Justice, “simply do not fully match the level of services outlined by Judge Quirke”.

“This is especially true if you are a survivor with untreatable cancer and complementary therapies are the only treatments that will offer comfort or help keep your strength up; or if you are a survivor who has just plucked up the courage to seek counselling and would like to do so without having to go to your GP first for a referral.

“It is also true if you are a relative of a survivor and you are trying to come to terms with the revelation that your mother has hidden her incarceration from you until now; or indeed, if you are an adopted person who expected that your natural mother would go on to live her life, but you have discovered that she remains institutionalised to this day.”