IRELAND
Irish Independent
Claire Fox and Cillian Sherlock
August 17 2017
A Magdalene Laundries campaigner has called for the removal of a statue dedicated to the Sisters of Mercy outside a former laundry in Dublin.
Patricia McDonald, founder of Justice for Magdalene Laundries, told Joe Duffy on RTE Radio One’s Liveline that the statue of a nun welcoming a poor woman and baby outside the Sisters of Mercy convent does not reflect the suffering that women experienced at the laundry.
“It does not record the actual reality of suffering and distress experienced by generations of women. It’s inappropriate. I’m not decrying the piece. It’s a nice piece of art,” she said.
Ms McDonald grew up in the Baggot Street area of Dublin and recalled how she would see the women emerging from the back of laundry but didn’t understand the significance of what they were doing.
“I remembered as a child seeing huge wooden doors open occasionally and steam coming out and women in uniforms appearing out in the lane way. As a child I didn’t know the significance of that and that it was in fact a laundry,” she added.
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