IRELAND
The Irish Times
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said he is giving “very careful consideration” to issues relating to the former Bethany Home for mothers and babies in Dublin.
There have been demands to include the Protestant-run Rathgar home, which was open between 1921 and 1972, in the terms of reference of an inquiry into the former Magdalen laundries.
Former residents of the Bethany Home have accused the government of discriminating against them on religious grounds by excluding them from the remit of its investigation of the Catholic-run Magdalene laundries. Mr Shatter has rejected the suggestion that the State’s position is motivated by religious discrimination.
In a letter to Northern Ireland Assembly MLA William Irwin, Mr Shatter said there were “no plans” to expand the brief of the interdepartmental committee chaired by Senator Martin McAleese.
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