The Irish government has unveiled a package of financial compensation, plus health and welfare support, for former residents of the Magdalene laundries. Compensation totalling $NZ58 to 98 million will be paid to the estimated 770 survivors of more than 10,000 women who lived in the dozen facilities from the 1920s to 1996. Justice Minister Alan Read more
Two weeks after an official report revealed that the Irish government was deeply involved in the incarceration of women in the Magdalene laundries, Prime Minister Enda Kenny has made an emotional state apology. “By any standards it was a cruel, pitiless Ireland, distinctly lacking in a quality of mercy,” Kenny said, as dozens of former Read more
The Irish state was directly involved in the incarceration of young women in the notorious Magdalene laundries, an official report has found. The Irish government has previously denied direct involvement in the system, which was run by four religious congregations: the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Sisters of Mercy Read more