Department of Justice snubs daughter of tragic Magdalene victim buried in mass grave

By James Ward
Irish Mirror
September 27, 2015

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/department-justice-snubs-daughter-tragic-6524785

Mary Collins with daughter Laura Collins and granddaughter Angel Mary Britton at the Dail yesterday where they called for probe into mass graves including this one at St Finbarr’s Cemetery, Cork

A Magdalene survivor whose mother is buried in a mass grave had the door slammed in her face on a visit to the Department of Justice.

In July, we revealed Mary Collins’ Traveller mum Angela was snatched from the side of the road and forced into the hated laundries for 27 years, only to die after not receiving proper medical treatment.

She was buried in a mass grave alongside 72 other women, where she remains today.

In her ongoing campaign for justice, Mary arranged for a meeting with the Justice Department to deliver a letter about her family’s plight, only for the doors to be locked upon her arrival.

Mary told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “We were marching on our way back up to the Justice Department and just as we got up to the gates they shut the doors and we were left standing outside. I banged on the window, I showed the big white sheet we had, telling them we had come from London to hand in this letter to the department.

“You could see clearly through the windows, I was begging and pleading.

“They said they’d be with me in one minute, so I went out to everybody and said, ‘They’re going to open up the doors’.

“With that a police officer came up to us. We handed the letter to him and explained we had been locked out.

“They’d been expecting us with this letter and the doors closed when they saw us.”

A Department of Justice spokesman said: “It is our practice the front doors of the building remain closed during protests for security reasons.

“The letter has been brought to the minister’s attention. A reply will be issued in due course.”