Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

James Connolly is often quoted as stating that the measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable. By that measure, Irish society has failed shockingly in respect of those who were resident in the Magdalene laundries and the Bethany Home. There is little need for me to detail the abuse, neglect, incarceration, systemic oppression, institutionalisation, deprivation in the context of education and forced labour without pay experienced by tens of thousands of Irish women. This has already been so eloquently done by my comrades. I must state, however, that I was shocked to read the submission from the Justice for Magdalenes group. I genuinely felt an enormous sense of disbelief that this type of abuse could have been visited upon vulnerable women. To my generation, a significant part of the past is a foreign country. However, it is unbelievable that the Magdalene laundry system remained in place until 1996. I am equally dumbfounded by the fact that in 2012 Magdalene women have not received justice or even an apology.

I am not naive. In that context, I am aware that in the first half of the previous century Ireland did not have the welfare state safety nets necessary to protect vulnerable people. I am also aware that in 2012, hundreds of young men and women are allowed to slip - often with tragic consequences - through the cracks in this austerity State's welfare system.

One would imagine that in a so-called progressive and enlightened society, people would act with haste and urgency to address the grievances, to apologise and to compensate. Prolonging the injustice and allowing the clock to tick by for women in their 80s who were unjustly left without a pension due to the decisions of this Government, is a disgraceful and inadequate response.

Our motion does not even go that far. All we ask is that the material well-being of these women, their ability to provide for themselves and their rights due from their work, are provided for. It is not the case that the State was oblivious of their existence. The State paid capitation fees and it paid for laundry services provided. The State incarcerated citizens within its walls and it captured and returned escapees. The funding of the Magdalene laundries and part-populating of them could only be done with full knowledge. Partnership and participation with the system brings responsibility. If the Government needs to know what is best to do then all it needs to do is remember what its members did when in opposition when they called for redress for these women.

In 2009, Labour Women made a determination that redress should be forthcoming. The Irish Human Rights Commission found that serious issues of human rights arose with regard to the treatment of women and girls in the Magdalene laundries. The UN Committee Against Torture recommended that the State issue prompt redress. The campaign by Justice for the Magdalenes must be commended. It has provided a powerful mirror to show us what sort of a society we were. Unfortunately we cannot change the past but the Government and the Minister can seek to make amends tonight and change the present by accepting this motion. The shocking facts are that the State used these women and the State failed to protect these women. The State now has it in its gift to compensate these women. Impíom ar an Aire fáil réidh leis an bpolasaí atá ag an Rialtas mar gheall ar na mná seo agus vótáil anocht ar son an rúin.

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