IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
17 JULY 2013
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has urged religious orders to reconsider contributing funds to a compensation scheme for survivors of the Magdalene laundries.
He repeated claims from Justice Minister Alan Shatter that no legal action could be taken to force the four congregations that ran the workhouses to give financial support – after they refused to pay into the multimillion-euro scheme.
“I would ask them to reflect on the question of a monetary contribution,” Mr Kenny said. “I can’t force them to do that. I can’t take away their charitable status that some have been talking about. This is an issue that they know about themselves and that’s the position.”
More than 210 women who worked in the Catholic-run workhouses have already applied to the compensation programme, which was announced by the Government last month.
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