IRELAND
Irish Times
JUDITH CROSBIE
Family members were responsible for one in 10 women being admitted to Magdalene laundries. Epileptic fits, tuberculosis and a “heart condition” are among the reasons recorded in the laundries’ registers for placement by families. One 13-year-old was put into a laundry in the 1920s by her mother “because of fits”. Her sister took her out after a few days but she was returned a year later.
The youngest girl admitted by her family was just 12, the oldest was 72.
Other non-State routes into the laundries included self-referrals (16.4 per cent), referrals by priests (8.8 per cent) and by charity groups or other organisations and individuals.
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