Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important motion and note that yesterday it coincided with the moving of the Bill by the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, to allow for one of the most important referenda in the history of the State, the Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012.

I cannot but reflect on the past, even from the 19th century but especially from 1922 to 1996 when the rights of children, and the rights of their mothers, were of no importance to this State. It was a period, from the foundation of the State, where our children conceived out of wedlock were not welcome in our society and their mothers were considered to be lesser citizens than everyone else, including the father of the child. It was a time when it was deemed acceptable to deprive those women, many of whom were only girls, not only of their children but also of their freedom, forcing them into a life of unpaid labour and imprisonment.

Thankfully, though deeply saddening, the treatment of those families is by now well documented. The harsh reality for them has been articulated by many, including Justice for Magdalenes, and has been accepted by the Irish Human Rights Commission, the United Nations Committee against Torture, and Dr. Geoffrey Shannon that the State's failure to monitor conditions in the laundries amounted to grave and systemic violations of the human rights of all girls and women as protected by the Irish Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights, international labour organisation conventions, and UN human rights conventions.

Why was that the case? Why did our State abdicate its responsibilities to its female citizens and children and hand them over to the religious orders? Such was the neglect of its responsibilities that there was no inquiry, inspection or regulation. For what crime were women incarcerated and punished? Some became pregnant. Many of them were victims of rape.Others were incarcerated for petty crimes and for no reason other than they were orphans yet our State did nothing.

It is ironic that what we now call Magdalene laundries were referred to as homes, asylums or refuges. In the definitions of those words nothing could have been further from the truth. Some of those in control of the laundries appear to have been Christians in name only.

It is over ten years, February 2002, since the then Government acknowledged that abuse occurred in the Magdalene laundries. I want to acknowledge and appreciate the testimony of the survivors and others who came forward with their evidence. In the past our society put little value on people speaking out, especially where the Church and State were concerned, and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for them not only to speak out but, in doing so, to relive a time in their lives which was unimaginably traumatic and disturbing, leaving them with lifelong emotional and physical damage.

Almost two years ago, and a full eight years after the acknowledgement that abuse occurred in the Magdalene laundries, the Irish Human Rights Commission published a document entitled Assessment of the Human Rights Issues Arising in relation to the Magdalen Laundries. This document included the recommendation that any investigation "should first examine the extent of the State's involvement in and responsibility for the girls and women entering the laundries; the condition of the laundries; the manner in which girls and women left the laundries and end of life issues for those who remained".

I welcome that on taking office last year this Government established the interdepartmental committee to establish the facts of the State involvement with the Magdalene laundries as a matter of public interest. In July last year, I was delighted when Senator Martin McAleese was formally appointed by the Minister, Deputy Shatter, as the independent chair of the committee. In establishing it, Senator McAleese requested that senior officials representing all the relevant Departments would sit on the committee, and within one week of his appointment the committee met.

I welcome also the approach taken by Senator McAIeese and his committee to work positively and sensitively with all who have information of interest and assistance.

Considerable work has been completed so far by the committee in a spirit of openness and fairness offering complete confidentiality to those who volunteer to provide information and access to files and documents. It is important that the committee be allowed to continue its work to establish the facts in examining how the four religious orders operated the laundries.

I welcome the facilitation of the committee to encourage submissions from advocacy groups, individuals or representative groups to provide information, which may not have been already recorded, and also all the other information sought from State agencies including the Health Service Executive, the Garda Síochána and the National Library of Ireland to mention a few. Crucially, the committee has had meetings with representatives of Justice for Magdalenes, the Irish Women Survivor Support Network and Magdalene survivors.

There is an enormous amount of information to be examined and, I suspect, more than we thought initially. While I sincerely acknowledge the anxiety of all of those women, now elderly, and their families to see the conclusion of the work of the committee, I am optimistic that the committee can stay on its own schedule to conclude its work by the end of this year.

I realise it is not in the terms of reference of this committee to make an apology to these deserving women and their families but the very least they deserve when all the facts are established is an apology, redress and restorative justice.

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