News

Representatives from Justice for Magdalenes (JFM), the survivor advocacy group that proposed a distinct redress scheme for survivors of the Magdalene Laundries, met with senior officials in the Department of Justice on Monday afternoon. Although senior officials from the Department of Education were scheduled to attend the same meeting, they did not keep the appointment.

At the meeting, Mr. James Martin, Assistant Secretary, stated unequivocally that after the passage of the Criminal Justice Act, 1960, the Department of Justice placed women "On Remand" at the Sean McDermott Street Magdalene Laundry (also known as the Gloucester Street laundry) and paid a capitation grant for every woman so-referred. The Department possesses lists of these women.

The Department of Justice now acknowledges also that women were routinely referred to various Magdalene Asylums via the Irish court system, in an arrangement entered into by members of the judiciary and the four religious congregations operating Magdalene Laundries in the Irish State.

At the meeting, JFM also submitted archival evidence that women were placed in Magdalene Laundries "On Probation" by the Irish court system, in some cases for periods of up to 3 years.

The Department of Justice officials stated that there was no legal basis supporting the courts' use of these institutions to confine women and, likewise, that there was no legal basis for members of the Garda Síochána returning women who escaped from the laundry institutions.

JFM requested that the Minister for Justice now demonstrate conclusively what became of each woman referred to the Magdalene Laundries either by the Department of Justice directly or via the judicial system. Moreover, JFM asked that the Minister for Justice request from the four religious congregations all records related to these women.

In light of these revelations, Justice for Magdalenes demands a retraction of the Minister for Education's assertion that the "State did not refer individuals to Magdalene Laundries nor was it complicit in referring individuals to them" (4th September 2009).

At a later meeting on Monday afternoon, Mr. Ruairi Quinn, T.D., and Labour Party Spokesperson for Education and Science, informed JFM of his intention to table a series of Parliamentary Questions regarding this new information when the Dáil reconvenes in January 2010.

At a further liaison meeting with the National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) on Tuesday, 14 December, JFM made a formal presentation to the organisation.

Read the presentation here.

Read the full press releases concerning these meetings here.

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