Magdalene Women Win Compensation at Last

By Frances Gibb
The Times
April 19, 2014

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/law/article4067432.ece


Hundreds of women who were forced to work in appalling conditions without pay are about to receive compensation after a marathon legal battle.

The settlement, from the Irish government is the climax of a 12-year fight by London lawyers to obtain justice for the women, who worked in what were known as the Magdalene Laundries.

The victims — whose plight was highlighted in the film Philomena starring Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan — had usually had a child outside marriage and were required, literally, to wash away their sins.