IRELAND
Irish Times
Marie O’Halloran
The sites of two former Magdalene laundries in Dublin should not be redeveloped until it is confirmed there are no children’s graves there, a survivor has demanded.
In an address to the Flowers for Magdalenes commemoration at Glasnevin Cemetery, Mary Merritt, who spent 14 years in High Park laundry in Drumcondra, said the planned redevelopment of the Magdalene laundry in Donnybrook, and any potential redevelopment of the laundry off Seán MacDermott Street, should not take place until the sites are fully examined for graves.
Her call echoed those of the Justice for Magdalenes Research organisation, the co-founder of which, Claire McGettrick, said the organisation had compiled a list of 180 institutions, agencies and individuals involved with unmarried mothers and their children.
Around the North Circular Road and places in Clontarf “there would have been houses dotted around those areas” involved, she said but the commission of inquiry into mother-and-baby homes was looking at 18. She said they had the names of 1,600 people who died in the laundries.
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