The following motion was moved by Deputy Mary Lou McDonald on Tuesday, 26 September 2012: That Dáil Éireann: notes that this motion has been drawn up with a survivor centred ethos; agrees with the State’s position, as articulated in Dáil Éireann in February 2002, that abuse occurred in the Magdalene Laundries, that the abuse was an appalling breach of trust and that the victims of that abuse suffered and continue to suffer greatly; acknowledges the hurt and hardship caused by the exclusion of survivors of the Magdalene Laundries from the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme; acknowledges that the Magdalene survivor population is predominantly aging and elderly; acknowledges that survivor testimony records that women were made to work without pay, were kept behind locked doors and returned by gardaí if they attempted to escape; welcomes the establishment of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Magdalene Laundries to clarify any State interaction with the Magdalene Laundries and to produce a narrative detailing such interaction; notes the Irish Human Rights Commission document entitled Assessment of the Human Rights Issues Arising in relation to the “Magdalene Laundries”; notes the UN Committee Against Torture’s recommendations on the Magdalene Laundries, its insistence that the State ensure that survivors obtain redress and its grave concern at the failure by the State to institute prompt, independent and thorough investigations into the allegations of ill-treatment of the women; further welcomes the public statement of June 2011 by four religious congregations which ran ten Magdalene Laundries expressing a willingness to bring greater clarity, understanding, healing and justice in the interests of all the women involved; further acknowledges that there is growing evidence of the State: — sending women and girls to the Magdalene Laundries; — providing the religious orders with direct and indirect financial support; and — failing to supervise the religious orders’ operation of the Magdalene Laundries; considers most serious the allegations of forced labour in the Magdalene Laundries, noting the incarceration and use of women and children as workers without pay would constitute forced labour under the 1930 Forced Labour Convention of the International Labour Organisation, which Ireland ratified in 1931, and accepts that the rejection and prohibition of slavery is a peremptory norm of international law; acknowledges the need for immediate and meaningful discussion on an apology and redress; commits to providing immediate funding for, and implementation of, a helpline for the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries; commits to supporting survivors in accessing pensions that reflect their years of work in the Magdalene Laundries; and commits to an open and meaningful debate on the issue of an apology, redress and restorative justice measures once the Inter-Departmental Committee has reported. Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following: “acknowledges that the untold story of those women who were in Magdalene laundries needs to be listened to with compassion and the facts about the Magdalene laundries need to be established and made public; is conscious of the need to respect the rights of all concerned; notes that the Irish Human Rights Commission document entitled ‘Assessment of the Human Rights Issues Arising in relation to the “Magdalene Laundries'" in November 2010 had recommended in the context of a mechanism to investigate matters that: — ‘such a mechanism should first examine the extent of the State’s involvement in and responsibility for:— the girls and women entering the laundries; — the conditions in the laundries; — the manner in which girls and women left the laundries; and — end-of-life issues for those who remained’;welcomes the fact that this Government, shortly after taking office in 2011, decided to establish an interdepartmental committee on Magdalene laundries, chaired by an independent person, to establish the facts of State involvement in Magdalene laundries; welcomes the fact that the religious congregations who ran the Magdalene laundries, those individuals who were in Magdalene laundries and their advocacy and representative groups have all engaged with the committee; notes that Senator Martin McAleese, chairman of the committee, has recently advised that:— the committee has made excellent progress despite the considerable challenges faced; and — a significant level of information and documentation has been identified; however, relevant records continue to be identified by Government Departments and State agencies and the committee also continues to receive new submissions from representative and advocacy groups, with a submission in excess of over 100 pages only received from one such group as recently as 15 August 2012;agrees that it would be wrong for the committee to conclude its work without examining the additional material and welcomes the excellent progress made by the committee and the statement that the committee intends to present a substantial final report as soon as possible and at the latest before the end of this year; and commits to an open and meaningful response once the interdepartmental committee has reported.” - (Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Kathleen Lynch).

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