LABOUR TD KENNY HIGHLIGHTS ARCHBISHOP McQUAID'S MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES STEWARDSHIP AND SAYS APOLOGY FOR MAGDALENES REQUIRED

Posted on February 14, 2013 10:31 AM   |   Permanent Link   

It has been said that people in Ireland today under the age of 40 may be unaware of what Irish society and culture was really like during the era after Independence and up to the 1970's when what is described in the McAleese report mainly happened.

The writer and journalist John Cooney wrote a book in 1999 with the title "John Charles McQuaid Ruler of Catholic Ireland".

Cooney refers to Magdalene laundries in the Archdiocese of Dublin in page 152 of his book and I quote
"Worse even than the austere regime which applied in industrial schools such as Artane for boys and Goldenbridge for girls, were the conditions for "fallen women" engaged in laundry and menial work in the four Magdalene penitentiaries in the (Dublin) archdiocese, at Donnybrook, Drumcondra, Dun Laoghaire and Lower Gloucester Street. A particular harrowing story was that of 14-year old Martha, who was sent to Drumcondra in 1942 to repent for "telling a shameful lie" - she had been indecently assaulted by a relative, but her aunts did not believe her".
In page 278 of the John Charles McQuaid book Cooney refers further to the Magdalenes and I quote "Unmarried mothers were placed in "Magdalene Penitentiaries" where they were forced by nuns to engage in slave-labour as laundry workers and cleaning women".

This was a period when Ireland was ruled politically for the most part by FF Leader Eamon De Valera as Taoiseach, and later as President. This period is often referred to as "De Valera's Ireland". In his book Cooney describes in Chapter 10 how De Valera convinced Pope Pius X1 to appoint John Charles McQuaid as Archbishop of Dublin and Michael Browne as Bishop of Galway.

In 2011, I welcomed the Inter-departmental Committee of Inquiry, to be headed by the now former Senator Martin McAleese and I was pleased to learn then that all government departments and their records would be made available for the Committee's work. I also said at the time that I welcomed Minister Shatter assurances to the Justice For Magdalene's campaign that the development of a narrative of State interaction with the Magdalene Laundries would consider acts of omission on the part of the State, in particular the State's failure to inspect and regulate and thereby prevent abuse in the laundries.

I have to say though, that I expected a formal apology by the State to be issued when the report was published. A formal apology should have been made immediately. It is blatantly obvious that an apology is required, and indeed, it is what a great many of the women would wish for. I am of course aware of the legal implications that an apology may bring and the State's concern in that regard. But the fact remains that the United Nations Committee Against Torture has already found the Irish State liable for the terrible abuses committed in the Magdalene Laundries.

The State, including the Government and individual deputies like myself have to remember that the issue of the Magdalene Laundries is fundamentally about the women who spent time in the institutions. It is also about their children. Most of the survivors are aging and elderly. Some women feel that both Church and State have pursued a policy of denial until absolutely necessary. It is for their sakes that the Church and State consider offering an apology.

I also want to put on the record of this House as I said in 2011 that I feel society owes these women an apology, not merely the State or the Church. The reality is that the Magdalene Laundries could not have functioned in Irish society without the implicit consent of Irish society. In many respects, the blame rests on all of us.