IIRELAND
The Irish Catholic
Michael Kelly
Thursday, 25 July 2013
The four religious congregations who ran the Magdalene laundries have set their face against contributing to the Government’s compensation scheme. It’s highly unlikely that the distressed hand-wringing from politicians will change the decision not to contribute to the Magdalene laundries redress scheme. The shameful history of our country in this regard is a call to reflection, and honesty. If we’re willing to heed that call.
Of course, the fact that the sisters have maintained a steely silence on the latest controversy, choosing instead to refer to past statements, makes it largely impossible for the general public to understand where they’re coming from. And in the absence of public commentary from the nuns, a lazy narrative has taken over in the media. Most commentators have tended to fall into either of two camps: on the one hand, they argue that the nuns simply don’t want to pay the money. On the other hand, others argue that the sisters just don’t accept any responsibility for their role in running the laundries.
It’s frustrating that the sisters are unwilling to engage publicly on the issues. However, in private the nuns who were involved are more than willing to share their views. The report into the laundries by Senator Martin McAleese was seen by the orders as offering a comprehensive picture of the complex involvement between Church, State and the wider society that led to an appalling situation where thousands of women were committed to these institutions. And the opening line of the McAleese Report is one frequently cited by the nuns: “there is no single or simple story of the Magdalene laundries”.
This, the nuns argue, proves that the issues at stake are more nuanced than simply asking the orders to hand over half of the estimated €58m cost of the Government’s redress plans.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.