IRELAND
Irish Times

HARRY McGEE, Political Correspondent

Labour backbench TDs and Senators have laid down a strong warning to the Government over its response to the Magdalene laundries report, contending that the issue of a full formal apology now needs to be addressed.

At yesterday’s parliamentary party meeting, and in a series of interviews, a succession of Labour Party backbenchers and Ministers criticised the initial response of the Government to Senator Martin McAleese’s report, which found the State was responsible for a quarter of all admissions to the laundries since 1922.

They told party leader and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore to re-engage urgently with the Taoiseach.
In a statement issued on behalf of the parliamentary party, the party’s TDs and Senators all but demanded a full apology and a form of redress scheme.