IRELAND
An Phoblacht
TAOISEACH Enda Kenny’s refusal to issue a public apology immediately on the publication of the report on Tuesday afternoon by Senator Martin McAleese into the state’s involvement in the Magdalene Laundries has disappointed campaigners.
Thousands of women were used as unpaid labour in ten laundries operated by religious orders with the knowledge, compliance and active support of the state.
Of the 10,000 who went through the laundries’ doors from 1922 to 1996 – often because of poverty or family break-up but for many reasons – one in four was referred by the state, including the courts. State agencies gave contracts to the laundries. The Garda and Government colluded with the system.
Speaking in the Dáil on the publication of the report, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD (right) said she is seriously disappointed with the Taoiseach’s statement to the Dáil, which even RTÉ described as “a qualified sorry” to the survivors of the laundries, estimated to be less than a thousand.
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