Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) has expressed hope that the McAleese
report published later today will lead to an apology and redress for
those who suffered in the Magdalene Laundries.
It is over
two years since the Irish Human Rights Commission recommended that a
statutory inquiry and redress be put in place for Magdalene survivors. A
similar call was made by the UN Committee Against Torture 18 months
ago.
JFM, which has fought a 10-year campaign on the issue,
expressed hope that the report will lead to an official apology from the
State and the Catholic Church, and the establishment of a distinct
compensation scheme for all Magdalene survivors.
JFM uncovered
and published more than 50 examples of the State committing girls as
young as 14 to laundries. It also submitted over 500 pages of newly
gathered survivor testimony to the inter-departmental committee —
testimony in which women say they were imprisoned in Magdalene Laundries
and had worked without pay.
Claire McGettrick of JFM said the
Government needs to establish a transparent compensation process for
the women who were incarcerated in the Laundries.
“We are
calling on the Government to establish a transparent and non-adversarial
compensation process, that includes the provision of pensions, lost
wages, health and housing services, as well as redress, and that is open
to all survivors, putting their welfare at the forefront. Magdalene
survivors have waited too long for justice and this should not be now
burdened with either a complicated legal process or a closed-door policy
of compensation,” she said.
Rachel Doyle of the National
Women’s Council of Ireland said the organisation was standing in
solidarity with the JFM campaign and reiterated its call for State
apology and a compensation scheme to be set up.
“We call on
Government as those charged with the responsibility to ensure that
justice and human rights prevail, to bring justice and a sense of peace
to the women involved,” she said.
“The least that these women
deserve in their older years, is an apology from the state and
compensation for their years of servitude and abuse.”