By Dan Buckley and Claire O’Sullivan
Saturday, June 11, 2011
THE four religious congregations that ran the Magdalene houses in Ireland have agreed to help achieve justice for thousands of women who were forced to work in the laundries.
Acknowledging the workhouses as a “dark story of Irish society”, a joint statement issued on behalf of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, Religious Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy and the Good Shepherd Sisters includes a promise to assist any official investigation into the running of the homes.
The Government is under international pressure to establish a judicial inquiry following a call by a UN committee last Monday to investigate reports that women and girls sent to work in the laundries suffered widespread abuse.
The statement, issued through the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI), describes the issue as a “sad, complex and dark story of Irish society that extends over 150 years”. It continues: “As the religious congregations, who, in good faith, took over and ran 10 Magdalene homes during part or most of that time and as congregations still in relationship with many residents and former residents, we are willing to participate in any inquiry that will bring greater clarity, understanding, healing and justice in the interests of all the women involved.”
The statement was welcomed by groups seeking justice for the women, in particular the Justice for Magdalene (JFM) group. Spokesman Professor Jim Smith called it “a positive first step”.
Next Tuesday, the Cabinet is due to discuss reports on the laundries by the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Geneva-based UN Committee Against Torture, both of which criticised the state’s failure to protect the women.
The UN panel’s report recommended that the Government “in appropriate cases, prosecute and punish the perpetrators with penalties commensurate with the gravity of the offences committed”.
Estimates put the numbers who passed through the laundries from 1922 to 1996 at 30,000.
Last night, JFM stressed it is not seeking a redress board-style legal adversarial process.
“JFM is very conscious of the current economic climate and we have no desire to propose anything that lines the pockets of Ireland’s legal profession,” Prof Smith said.
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, June 11, 2011
