BishopAccountability.org

JFM Research deeply disappointed at exclusion of Magdalene Laundries from Inquiry

Justice for Magdalenes
January 09, 2015

http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/press/JFMR%20PR%20090115.pdf

[with pdf]

Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) is greatly concerned that the Magdalene Laundries have been excluded from the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.

The Mother and Baby homes and Magdalene Laundries were both integral parts of Ireland’s architecture of containment of ‘problem’ women and girls.

As JFMR has previously pointed out to Minister Reilly, the McAleese inquiry did not investigate or make findings about abuse or lines of responsibility for abuse in the Magdalene Laundries.

Furthermore, the McAleese Report does not contain a single word from the 796 pages of testimony submitted by JFM and it failed to adequately examine issues relating to deaths and burials. Serious doubt has been cast on the accuracy of the McAleese Report’s assertions regarding duration of stay [see link to op-ed below].

The McAleese Committee's terms of reference were limited to investigating State involvement with the Laundries only. We believe that it is partly because of the gaps in the McAleese Committee's terms of reference that all religious orders involved still refuse to apologise or provide redress to the women who spent time in Magdalene Laundries.

The Magdalene Laundries abuse must be investigated. The women who are still alive, their families and the families of those who have died, have a right to the truth.  

JFMR does note that the Commission of Inquiry ‘ can exercise discretion in relation to the scope and intensity of the investigation ’. JFMR will avail of the opportunities presented to engage with the Inquiry to present relevant evidence it has gathered through archival research and gathering of oral histories, evidence ignored by the McAleese inquiry.




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