LW support Magdalene redress scheme

Issued : Monday 28 September, 2009



Labour Women support calls for a separate redress scheme for Magdalene women' says Sinead Ni Chulachain, Labour Women Chair.



Over several decades the Irish state allowed the civil liberties of the women and girls in the Magdalene institutions to be violated, and made no attempt to vindicate the constitutional rights of these citizens.



The Magdalene women were imprisoned, abused, ill-treated and traumatised. Their freedom, identity, ability to make decisions or choices, their motherhood and their fundamental rights as free citizens, were stripped away from them. Surely inflicting any of those sufferings on a person, amounts to a gross violation of one's freedoms.



Therefore those responsible have no choice but to apologise. The state has to take responsibility for its inaction.



The women need to know that they were the victims, not the wrong-doers. We need a dignified and fair way to give the Magdalene laundries closure.