IRELAND
Irish Independent

They were called Fallen Women. But in reality they were Loose Ends. The 10,000 and more women and girls who passed through the gates of the Magdalene Laundries since 1922 were regarded as no more than female flotsam and jetsam which washed up on the shores of the State.

The authorities didn’t know what to do with them, nor particularly care about what befell them. They were loose ends, round pegs in the rigidly square society ordained by the conjoined twins of church and State.

They were orphans, or children of neglected or abusive homes, or rejected by foster parents. They were dirt-poor, unloved, on remand or probation for crimes ranging from non-payment of a train ticket to manslaughter, but mostly convicted of petty offences.

They were unmarried mothers, or children born out of wedlock, or females accused of being morally suspect. They were girls released…