Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

This matter is being treated very seriously by the Government. It is difficult to put in words the scale of the emotional impact for many of those women who worked in the Magdalene laundries. However, we need to find out the facts here, what happened, how many were involved, and what was the State's involvement. That is the reason the Government has decided to have an interdepartmental committee to deal with this. A great deal has been written and said about it, but when it is apparent that a number of women who worked in the Magdalene laundries who are currently being looked after by religious congregations, it behoves us all to find out the nature and the scale of what happened. The interdepartmental committee will report within three months. That is based on a potential achievement and it is in everybody's interests that we contribute to that.

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