Plight of Magdalen women must never be forgotten

Issued : Wednesday 8 July, 2009



Labour Women welcome the screening of the film 'The Forgotten Maggies' in Galway on the eve of the Galway Film Festival.



The documentary is a reminder of a part of our history which has come into light in the last decade. The Magdalen Laundries were institutions run by religious orders, meant to house women who were seen as 'troublesome' or who had had a child out of wedlock. Indeed children were also housed in the institutions. Some women never left the laundry. These institutions are called 'laundries' because of the work that the women did. There were 13 laundries in total in the country : 3 in Dublin, 2 in Cork,2 in Limerick, 1 in Galway, 1 in Wexford, 1 in Waterford, 1 in Longford, 1 in Belfast and 1 in Athy.
Some have been sold, some are in use as housing, and some stand derelict. The laundries as they had been used closed in 1996.



The State must bear its responsibility, again, in accommodating the oppression of the Magdalen women. The children involved were robbed of their family and true identity. Some Magdalen women, according to writings about the laundries, who have been buried did not have their deaths certified and have been buried under made-up religious names. Robbery of one's identity is erasing one's life.



The women have never received an apology. It is time to remember the Magdalen women and children, and collectively apologise for the robbery of the women's dignity and human rights.