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Magdalene Laundries Press Releases
Department of Education acknowledges its awareness of children in Magdalene laundries
Senior officials in the Department of Education have confirmed the Department's awareness of children being confined in Magdalene laundries as late as 1970. The admission came during a meeting with the survivor advocacy group, Justice for Magdalenes (JFM), on Tuesday morning, 2 February 2010...
Read more >>
Read Minister O'Keeffe's mailed letter to JFM >>
Minister acknowledges State complicity as Department meets with Justice for Magdalenes
Justice for Magdalenes (JFM), the survivor advocacy group, will meet with officials in the Department of Education on Tuesday, 2 February 2010. The meeting follows statements in recent days by the Minister for Education, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe, T.D., revising his earlier assertion that "the State did not refer individuals nor was it complicit in referring individuals to the laundries" (4 September 2009)...
Justice for Magdalenes views 19th January Parliamentary Questions with mixed emotions
Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) acknowledges with thanks the work of Mr. Ruairi Quinn, T.D. (Labour Party), in tabling a series of Parliamentary Questions in Dáil Éireann on 19th January...
Issue of women committed to Magdalenes Laundries needs to be resolved
From Joan Burton TD, Labour Spokesperson on Finance: The issue of women who were committed to Magdalenes Laundries is one of the last unresolved issues of the hidden Ireland of institutions, religious orders and the State, so eloquently set out in the Ryan report and a whole series of articles, films and programmes....
Watch Deputy Joan Burton's adjournment
debate on Magdalene Laundries >>
All Party Dáil/Seanad Committee on Magdalenes Formed
The survivor advocacy group Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) announces that members of the Dáil and Seanad are to form an ad hoc committee to address the issue of redress for those incarcerated in Magdalene Laundries...
Department of Justice Contradicts Education Minister on Magdalenes
The Department of Justice contradicts the Minister for Education's statement that the State "did not refer individuals nor was it complicit in referring individuals to Ireland's Magdalene Laundries"...
30 November 2009
Justice for Magdalenes outraged at grave disrespect.
Justice for Magdalenes, the organisation that campaigns for the rights of women incarcerated in Magdalene Laundries, has written to Glasnevin cemetery and the Lord Mayor of Dublin demanding the removal of the storage area that has been erected around the Mecklenburg Street Magdalene grave at Glasnevin Cemetery. The organisation has also written to the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, who have responsibility for the grave....
7 October 2009
The Minister for Education, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe, again rejects Justice for Magdalene's proposal for a distinct redress scheme for survivors of the laundries.
Mr. O'Keefe was responding to two written Parliamentary Questions in Dáil Éireann yesterday. The first question was tabled by Mr. Tom Kitt, TD (FF). The second question was tabled by Mr. Willie Penrose, TD (Labour) [Copies Attached]. A copy of Justice for Magdalene's letter to An Taoiseach (dated 22 September 2009) was attached to both questions...
28 September 2009
Justice for Magdalenes reacts to the Minister for Education, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe's expression of regret for any offense caused in referring to survivors as the "former employees" of Ireland's Magdalene laundries.
In a letter to Mr. Tom Kitt, TD, dated 23 September 2009, the Minister for Education expressed "deep regret" for earlier referring to women who worked in the Magdalene Laundries as "former employees." His brief letter concluded, "I fully acknowledge that the word 'workers' would have been more appropriate." A copy of Mr. O'Keeffe's letter is attached to this press release...
Letter from Justice for Magdalenes to An Taioseach
'Apology' from Minister Batt O'Keeffe
Labour women support magdalene redress scheme
Labour Women support calls for a separate redress scheme for Magdalene women' says Sinead Ni Chulachain, Labour Women Chair.
Over several decades the Irish state allowed the civil liberties of the women and girls in the Magdalene institutions to be violated, and made no attempt to vindicate the constitutional rights of these citizens.
The Magdalene women were imprisoned, abused, ill-treated and traumatised. Their freedom, identity, ability to make decisions or choices, their motherhood and their fundamental rights as free citizens, were stripped away from them. Surely inflicting any of those sufferings on a person, amounts to a gross violation of one's freedoms.
Therefore those responsible have no choice but to apologise. The state has to take responsibility for its inaction.
The women need to know that they were the victims, not the wrong-doers. We need a dignified and fair way to give the Magdalene laundries closure.
[ENDS]
18 September 2009
Justice of Magdalenes has received official notification that the Irish State will neither apologise to survivors of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries nor establish a distinct redress scheme to provide justice for these victims of institutional abuse
Mr. Batt O'Keeffe, Minister for Education, was responding to draft language towards an Apology and distinct redress scheme circulated by Justice for Magdalenes to all members of Daíl Éireann in early July, 2009. The minister responded in a letter directed to Mr. Tom Kitt, TD, who made representations on our behalf. The Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) members are deeply appreciative of Mr. Kitt's efforts...
Draft Magdalene Redress Act Proposal
Response from Mr. Batt O'Keeffe, Minister for Education & Science
29 July 2009
Justice for Magdalenes committee calls on Government to provide redress for Magdalene survivors
Justice for Magdalenes welcomes the publication of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, 2009: Implementation Plan, and we look forward to witnessing the immediate implementation of the ninety-nine measures outlined therein...
06 July 2009
Justice for Magdalenes committee distributes draft language for a distinct redress scheme for survivors of Ireland's Magdalene laundries
The Justice for Magdalenes committee is urging politicians to issue an apology for the state's culpability and its failure to protect the legal rights of women who always remained citizens of the State in Ireland's Magdalene Laundries and also to introduce new legislation to provide redress for this marginalized population...