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Magdalene Memorial Committee Condemns Development at Good Shepherd Convent
Dublin, 26th November 2003

The Magdalene Memorial Committee condemns the outrageous efforts of Developer, Pat Hegarty, who is planning to build an apartment block on the site of the Good Shepherd Convent in Sundayswell, Cork. Most of the women incarcerated in the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry are buried on this site. Mr. Hegarty has yet to make a comment on what he plans to do about preserving the graves of these women.

In 1993 at High Park Magdalene Laundry, Drumcondra, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity applied for an exhumation licence for the remains of 133 women who had been enslaved in their laundry. The nuns were selling the land to make money. During the exhumation the remains of a further 22 women were discovered. Death certificates were provided for only 75 of the 133 women on the original application. Unbelievably, the Department of the Environment, without asking any questions, put through an additional licence. All but one of the women's bodies were then cremated and reburied in Glasnevin Cemetery in a mass grave.

Are we going to let the same thing happen to the women buried at the Good Shepherd Convent in Cork?

The Magdalene Memorial Committee calls on Pat Hegarty to state what his plans are for the site of the graves of the Good Shepherd Convent in Cork.

"It is a disgrace that Ireland seems to have learned nothing from past atrocities such as the exhumations at High Park Laundry," said Chairperson Patricia McDonnell. "There would be worldwide outrage if it was suggested to build apartments on the site of one of Germany's concentration camps, how long will it take before we show some respect to these ladies who have been treated so badly by both Church and State" she added.

Magdalene Memorial Committee Secretary Angela Murphy, whose mother was incarcerated in High Park Laundry, said "It is appalling that yet again profit has come before dignity. It is horrific to think that the Good Shepherd Sisters did not make provision to ensure respect for the final resting place of the women they imprisoned. It seems that Mr. O'Callaghan may well intend to take advantage of and share in this lack of respect."

Since the revelations in August this year about the High Park Laundry in Drumcondra, the Magdalene Memorial Committee has been organising a campaign to seek justice for women who were imprisoned in Magdalene Laundries. "We have received countless offers of support from all over the world, mostly due to 'The Magdalene Sisters', Peter Mullan's film. People just cannot believe that such things were allowed to happen in Holy Catholic Ireland." said PRO Claire McGettrick.

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