THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO RECOGNISE RIGHT OF MAGDALENE WOMEN TO REDRESS
Issued : Thursday 11 November, 2010
The issue of women who were committed to Magdalenes Laundries is one of the last unresolved issues of the hidden Ireland of institutions, religious orders and the State. The laundries were symbolic of a climate in which young women who fell pregnant were deemed to be tainted or full of sin. The solution was to lock them away in conditions which can only be described as servitude or forced labour.
On Tuesday (Nov 9th) I attended the launch of the report by the Irish Human Rights Commission (IRHC) on the women of the Magdalene Laundries. The report found that the Magdalene women should be included in the redress scheme for survivors of institutional abuse and that there should be a statutory inquiry into the laundries. The report represents a significant development in the fight for redress which the Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) group have been engaged in.
As Labour Party spokesperson for equality I have worked closely with the JFM group in order to support their attempts to force the Government to recognise the State’s responsibility to these women. The report by the IRHC is the culmination of many months of research and lobbying by the JFM group and I would like to commend them on their dedication to this important issue.
The report found that “…the treatment of these women and girls by the Religious Orders appears to have been harsh. They were reputedly forced to work long hours. Their names were often changed to a religious name, they were isolated from society and the girls were allegedly denied educational opportunities”. The report also found that the State may have breached its obligations on servitude and forced labour under the European Convention on Human Rights and the Forced Labour Convention. These findings are yet more examples of collusion between the State and religious institutions which resulted in the suffering of vulnerable people.
It is reprehensible that the State did not include Magdalene women in the Residential Institutions Redress Act (2002) and allow them to claim compensation for the terrible ordeal which many of them suffered. The argument which was consistently put forward by the Government was that the State had no involvement in committing women to these institutions. The JFM group have uncovered incontrovertible evidence which proves otherwise, and this has now been confirmed by the report of the IHRC.
For people under 40, there is no memory and no familiarity with the Laundries and the other institutions in which women were incarcerated, in many cases because they were having a child on their own or because they had come to the attention of the courts. In some cases, incarceration in these institutions was seen by the court system as a substitute for female prisons.
Survivors of the laundries are now quite elderly and many are living in impoverished circumstances in Ireland, the UK and the US. As such, it is critically important that the Government first of all offer an apology on behalf of the State to these women. Secondly, the Government should move quickly to establish a distinct redress scheme and allow the Magdalene women to receive compensation for their time in the laundries. This would at least offer some comfort to the women and hopefully allow them to move on with their lives.
The IHRC report also calls for a statutory inquiry into the Magdalene Laundries. The publication of the Ryan Report was undoubtedly a difficult time for the survivors of institutional abuse. However, I am sure that many of the survivors would agree that the Ryan Report was helpful in the sense that it awakened us all to the true horror of what they had to endure. A similar inquiry and report into the abuse suffered by the Magdalene women might also aid the healing process.
I welcome the Government’s decision to refer the IHRC report to the Attorney General for his consideration. While the Government have an important role to play in addressing the suffering of the Magdalene women I also feel that the religious orders must accept their portion of the responsibility. I note that religious orders who were involved in the running of the Magdalene Laundries have so far not indicated a willingness to meet with survivors, despite repeated requests from the JFM group. I would urge them, in light of this report, to reconsider this.
The Magdalene women were voiceless for many years. It is only now that the true nature of their ordeal is coming to light. The treatment of the women and girls in the Laundries grossly violated their constitutional rights. The women should have had the right to earn a livelihood, the right to privacy and the right to one’s good name. The denial of these rights continues to this day as these women continue to fight for justice. The Government must do the decent thing and fully implement the recommendations contained in the IHRC report.
