IRELAND
Galway Advertiser
February 07, 2013
By Kernan Andrews
There are no reliable figures for the numbers of women sent to the Magdalene Laundry in Galway as the McAleese Report reveals blank or missing records, but strong hints it was one of the few in the State operating on an economic surplus.
This is the view of Independent city councillor Catherine Connolly, who was reacting to the publication on Tuesday of the McAleese Report into the running of the notorious Magdalene Laundries in the Republic of Ireland.
The report confirmed significant State involvement with the 10 laundries with more than 26 per cent of the 10,012 women and girls who spent time there being referred by the courts, the Garda, or the health authorities.
Cllr Connolly also pointed out that this figure excludes the two Magdalen Laundries operated by the Sisters of Mercy in Galway and Dun Laoghaire. There are no records for the Dun Laoghaire laundry, while for Galway only partial records survive – including one soft-back notebook which covers only 1944 to 1959 but with November 1949 to June 1954 left blank.
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