NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
24 FEBRUARY 2014
Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Ministers have said a forum should be established to acknowledge alleged mistreatment of young women at Catholic-run Magdalene workhouses.
Victims have been campaigning for an inquiry after investigations in the Republic of Ireland uncovered evidence of harsh conditions and callous treatment.
The laundries – institutions for single mothers detained through the courts or often moved in by their family or clergy for being sexually active – were run by Catholic religious orders.
A statement from OFMDFM said: “We recognise that there are women who were over the age of 18 when they entered the Magdalene laundry-type institutions and there is a need to provide them with a forum where their issues can be addressed and their experiences acknowledged.”
The Good Shepherd Sisters ran a laundry and home in Belfast from the late 19th century until 1977 and 1990 respectively. Thousands of girls and women passed through its doors. The same order of nuns ran two other laundries, one in Newry in Co Down which operated into the 1980s, and another in Derry.
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