State accused of misleading United Nations on Magdalene liability

By Conall ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner
April 10, 2017

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/state-accused-of-misleading-united-nations-on-magdalene-liability-447405.html

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and her department have been accused of misleading the UN by claiming the McAleese report made “no finding” in relation to State liability with regard to Magdalene Laundries.

Ms Fitzgerald told the Dáil in February that a State apology was issued to the women who worked in Magdalene Laundries despite the fact that there was “no finding in the McAleese Report which indicated that the State had any liability in the matter”.

This was also stated in Geneva at a hearing of the UN Convention of Equality Against Women by a Department of Justice representative.

However, the McAleese report states categorically that over one-quarter of all referrals to Magdalene Laundries were facilitated by the State.

In the State apology offered by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to the women in 2013, he also explicitly acknowledged the State’s “direct involvement” in the Magdalene Laundry system.

“But from this moment on you need carry it no more. Because today we take it back. Today we acknowledge the role of the State in your ordeal.”

“We now know that the State itself was directly involved in over a quarter of all admissions to the Magdalene Laundries,” he said.

Mr Kenny cited the five areas specifically examined by McAleese — namely routes of entry/exit, regulation and State inspection, State funding and financial assistance and death registrations, burials and exhumations — and said that in all of the above areas, there was found to be “direct State involvement.”

Claire McGettrick of Justice For Magdalenes Research said Ms Fitzgerald’s view was “indefensible” given the clear evidence of State liability in the matter.

“Regarding forced labour, it is indefensible for the Minister for Justice, her Department or the Government as a whole to claim that they know of no factual evidence that would give rise to the belief that the State has any legal liability for forced labour in Magdalene Laundries,” she said.

Ms McGettrick pointed to multiple examples in the McAleese report where State involvement in the laundries was clearly set out.

Sinn Féin’s children’s spokesperson Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said Ms Fitzgerald, and her officials have been misleading both the UN and the Dáil in their comments on State liability.

“Not only is both the Minister and her representative to the UN guilty of peddling untruths, they are being quite insulting to those whom the Taoiseach issued his apology in 2012,” he said.

Mr Ó Laoghaire also said the full recommendations of the Quirke Report had yet to implemented over four years on from the State apology.

“The Quirke Report recommended establishing a “dedicated unit” with Magdalene Survivors under the auspices of the Department of Justice to discuss a permanent memorial dedicated to the Women and Children of the Magdalene Laundries.“