DUBLIN - Ireland is preparing to wash its dirty laundry in public on Tuesday with the publication of an extensive report into the Magdalene Institutions, workhouses operated by Catholic religious orders where an estimated 30,000 girls and young women were detained between 1922 and 1996.
The dwindling group of survivors of the laundries are seeking a state apology for their treatment and payment for years of unpaid labor and pension payments. The “Maggies” were excluded from a previous compensation scheme for those who suffered in state-run institutions on the basis that the laundries were never inspected or regulated.
In an opinion piece in The Irish Times this morning, Jim Smith, an associate professor at Boston College and a committee member of the Justice for Magdalenes campaign group, said: “These women were abused in the past and have been abandoned in the present.”
“The women’s testimony is compelling,” he wrote. “It rebuts government claims that they entered these institutions ‘voluntarily’. It contradicts the religious orders’ assertion that women were free to come and go as they pleased.”
The 1,000-page report is expected to be presented to the Irish cabinet Tuesday afternoon. It was prepared by a committee formed from five government departments, chaired by Senator Martin McAleese, the husband of former Irish President Mary McAleese. It is expected to contain conclusions but no recommendations. It remains unclear if the government will take responsibility and issue a state apology.
The government set up the committee in June 2011 following a report from the United Nations Committee Against Torture, which described the system as slavery and called for the investigation.
Ireland to Publish Report on Laundry Workhouses
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Ireland to Publish Report on Laundry Workhouses
