Crowe Welcomes Taoiseach’s Apology to Magdalene Women

Speaking following the Taoiseach’s apology to the women who were incarcerated in the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, Dublin South West representative Seán Crowe TD welcomed the full apology on behalf of the State and called for him to ensure that the proposed redress scheme be based on the rights and needs of the women themselves.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“It is shocking and sad that it has taken this length of time that for the women who were incarcerated in the Magdalene institutions to get the full apology they deserve. The State was complicit with the church in ensuring that there was an architecture of containment there for those whom they viewed were in need of moral guardianship for anything from being very young orphaned girls, to simply being too pretty, wild or unmarried. Unfortunately, the Taoiseach’s apology doesn’t explicitly list the state’s exact wrongdoing. I hope this information will be forthcoming in due course. I also hope that the Government will see fit to also acknowledge the state’s role in the barbaric practice of symphisiotomy through the year’s too.

“What happened in various laundries is a national scandal. It was slavery. Women were beaten, they were stripped and their heads were shaved by the nuns who ran these hell holes. The courts, the gardaí and Irish society were all complicit over this horror.

“Like others I see the apology as only the beginning and start of a process of healing for these women and their families. We need to see the exact detail of the proposed redress scheme and how it will give the support to the remainder of the Magdalene’s. Under the UN Convention on Torture, these women are clearly entitled to a compensation package.

“Any redress scheme must be rights-based and woman-focused. The Taoiseach has used the term “fund” in his speech which would seem to indicate that there is a predetermined amount of money in mind for the State to meet the women’s needs. This redress scheme must not be based on what the state feels like handing over. It has to be based on the actual needs of the women themselves.

“In my opinion the Religious Orders who ran these industrial laundries must also be made contribute to the compensation fund as part of this process. If that doesn’t happen the process will grind to a halt and the positive potential from the Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s remark will dissipate and dissolve like soap in scalding water.”