Michael Kelly: the Nuns’ Story - Why Magdelene Orders Feel They’ve No Case to Answer

Irish Independent
July 19, 2013

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/michael-kelly-the-nuns-story-why-magdelene-orders-feel-theyve-no-case-to-answer-29432370.html

It's highly unlikely that the distressed hand-wringing from politicians will change the decision of the religious orders not to contribute to the Magdalene Laundries redress scheme.

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.

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 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 ˆ58m cost of the Government's redress plans.

I don't speak for the nuns, nor am I an apologist for the mistreatment suffered by the women in the laundries. But I know from talking to the sisters that they believe there is a wider context.

They point to the fact that a quarter of women were committed by the State and a significant number were sent to the laundries by their families.

The McAleese Report reveals that there were also instances when women went themselves voluntarily to the institutions, that the average stay as a laundry was seven months, and that more than 60pc of women spent a year or less there.

Who should compensate women who went voluntarily or were sent by their families? Should the State? Should the religious orders?

They also insist that they have been supporting some of the former residents on an ongoing basis, long before the Government considered its own responsibility.

The questions turns to whether or not the orders can actually afford to pay in to redress. There isn't a uniform answer. It's likely that some of the orders could afford to and others couldn't.