AN Oireachtas committee has been established to examine the issue of redress for women who were held in Magdalene Laundries.The ad hoc committee, headed up by Fianna Fáil’s Tom Kitt, will meet early next year to draw up an all-party motion seeking redress for the thousands of women who were held in the laundries across the country.
The Dáil and Seanad committee will examine how the laundries were established, how they failed the women and how these issues can best be dealt with in the future.
Cork North Central Deputy, Kathleen Lynch is a member of the committee.
She said it is hoped that Taoiseach Brian Cowen will apologise to the women for their treatment in these Church-run institutions.
"We want redress for these women just as there was redress for those who were abused in residential homes. The system to bring redress is already in place," she said.
Associate Professor at Boston College, Dr James M Smith – a member of Justice for the Magdalene’s Advisory Committee – made a presentation on the laundries to a number of TDs and Senators earlier this week.
The presentation consisted of a brief history of the laundries, including evidence that the Irish state was complicit in referring women to the laundries.
Dr Smith also presented Justice for the Magdalenes Advisory Committee’s proposed distinct Redress Scheme for the Magdalene Laundries.
Department of Justice officials admitted this week to former Magdalene women that they and the Irish judiciary system had sent women to the laundries by putting them "on remand" and "on probation" at the institutions.
Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) say this information contradicts Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe’s controversial statement last September that the Magdalene women would not receive compensation for their incarceration as the state "did not refer individuals, nor was it complicit in referring individuals to Ireland’s Magdalene laundries".
Mr O’Keeffe admitted on Tuesday that this "information wasn’t available" when he issued his letter.
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