THE JUSTICE for Magdalenes group has welcomed the Government
announcement that Senator Martin McAleese is to chair the
interdepartmental committee that will seek to clarify State interaction
with the 10 Magdalene laundries that existed in Ireland between 1922 and
1996.
Dr McAleese, husband of President Mary McAleese, was recently appointed as one of the Taoiseach’s nominees to the Seanad.
The justice group said it was committed to working with him.
In
announcing the appointment, Minister for Justice Alan
Shatter said the Government believed it was “essential to fully
establish the true facts and circumstances relating to the Magdalene
laundries as a first step.
The purpose of the interdepartmental
committee will be to clarify any State interaction with the Magdalene
laundries and to produce a narrative detailing such interaction.”
He
was “delighted” Dr McAleese had agreed to take on “the important role”.
He said “the value of his work and involvement in the peace process in
Northern Ireland and the positive contribution he has made to life on
this island have been widely recognised”.
Dr McAleese was “a
person of the highest integrity whose presence on the committee will, I
believe, both enhance its stature and, importantly, reassure everyone
concerned that the role of chairperson of the interdepartmental
committee is a truly independent one.”
Dr McAleese said “the sole
purpose of the committee is to clarify and detail the facts of any State
interaction with the laundries”.
He hoped that its report would “make a valuable contribution to this issue”.