Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak about the Magdalene laundries. While I am new to the justice portfolio, the groups representing women who were residents in these institutions had constant contact with my predecessor, Deputy Dara Calleary, who kept our party briefed on their ongoing issues. At the outset, l want to put on record my own opinion and that of Fianna Fáil that it was totally and utterly unacceptable that women were sent to Magdalene laundries and kept there against their will.

I am not here to make political points; nor should any Member of this House when speaking about this sensitive, hurtful and complex part of Ireland's history. There should be an all-party approach to reaching a satisfactory solution, if at all possible.

I am conscious also that we all use the term "Magdalene laundries" but that they were known by a variety of terms, including "asylums", "refuges" and "homes". The women who resided and worked in the institutions were referred to as "penitents" or "inmates", and latterly as "girls" and "women". In my speech, I will be referring to them as "residents" even though the Justice for Magdalenes submission to the interdepartmental committee chaired by Senator McAleese has numerous contributions from residents who said they were held against their will and were never let out to visit their families or even to go into town to meet friends or go for a walk. There were women who said they were held in locked dormitories, with bars on the windows and with high walls surrounding the premises so the outside world was invisible. This, according to many residents, was particularly bad before the 1970s. According to one survivor, they seemed "to wake up in the 70's and realise that people could not be treated in that way anymore".

The Justice for Magdalenes submission, which is very detailed, refers to the legislation that covered these institutions, which applied in Ireland from the beginning of the last century. The Factory and Workshop Act 1907 entered into force on 1 January 1908 and applied to the whole of what was then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This Act had provisions covering laundries as a trade, hours of work and also "any premises forming part of an institution carried on for charitable or reformatory purposes". Other legislation offering "protection to workers" was the 1901 Factory and Workshop Act, which, according to Justice for Magdalenes, should be considered by the interdepartmental committee. It included a section which outlines why any room a person is in "must not be locked or bolted or fastened in such a manner that they cannot be easily and immediately opened from the inside". The Justice for Magdalenes submission gives many solid examples of sections of legislation from 1901 onwards, and some before, which, on the face of it, should have given some protection to the residents if it had been applied. However, there was little or no inspection and Justice for Magdalenes believes it was clear that, where the institutions were run by religious orders, "they fought tooth and nail to avoid inspection". Even when letters of complaint were submitted, they were quickly dismissed.

The redacted parts of the Justice for Magdalenes report contains even more harrowing evidence but, even as it stands, the report gives a picture of society at the time, particularly the social stigma that applied to women who became pregnant outside of marriage. There is no doubt this stigma was due to what the Catholic Church predominantly dictated at the time and how society responded to this. It is important that this is all put into context and, while I am obviously not condoning what happened, context is crucial. Institutions such as these existed not only in Ireland; as confirmed in the Justice for Magdalenes report, there is also reference to such institutions run by religious orders in France and the UK and there are references to debates in the House of Commons in the 1920s regarding how inspections should be strengthened.

The Justice for Magdalenes report described how, in 1928, after Irish Independence, a Commission on the Relief of the Sick and Destitute Poor was set up, which outlined how a woman should be "incarcerated" for one year if pregnant outside marriage with her first child or for two years if it was her second pregnancy, and stated that the health board had the power to "retain for such period as they think fit, having considered the recommendation of the Superior or Matron of the Home". It is stated the object was to "regulate, control [or] segregate those who have become sources of evil, danger, and expense to the community".

Obviously, we are debating this in the Dáil in 2012. What we need to do is to determine what is best for the residents who have survived these institutions and what can be done for them to ease their pain, which is no doubt both physical and psychological. The State must do all it can to co-operate as fully as possible in making notes, referrals and any other information available to the interdepartmental committee chaired by Senator McAleese. The religious orders and the Church also need to co-operate fully, and I welcome the announcement in July last by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who offered full and open access to the Dublin diocesan archives.

Everyone in Irish society needs to learn lessons from the Ryan report and other reports that exposed horrific stories from our past. The more open and honest the parties can be at every stage, the more it will enable a satisfactory solution. I see from the interim report that Senator McAleese has confirmed that full co-operation is being given, which is to be welcomed. However, the group is looking at ten institutions in operation since 1922 and this involves four religious orders. The work has been delayed slightly to allow all submissions to be examined, which is understandable given the extent of the task and given that records made before computerisation can be hard to find. There has been a call to include other institutions such as Bethany Home, and perhaps the Government could examine this request. Contact has been made by the committee with Departments, agencies, the Garda, the courts, the local authorities, the HSE, the LRC, the National Library and the National Archives, and the Irish Human Rights Commission has also made presentations to the committee.

When this report is finalised, it will be another step towards redress. I believe there should be a full debate in this House when the report is finalised and that there will be an all-party and constructive approach to redress.

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