Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion and commend Sinn Féin for tabling it. I am disappointed that the Government has tabled an amendment to the motion. This is not an issue on which the House should divide. Even at this late stage, I appeal to the Minister to withdraw the amendment and to allow this motion to be passed unanimously by the House.

We must acknowledge that abuse occurred in Magdalene laundries. The abuse was an appalling breach of trust and the victims of that abuse suffered, and continue to suffer, greatly. We must acknowledge the hurt and the hardship caused by the exclusion of survivors of the Magdalene laundries from the residential institutions redress scheme. We also need to recognise that the survivors are predominantly elderly.

The survivor testimony itself records that women were made to work without pay, were kept behind locked doors and returned by gardaí if they attempted to escape. The State had a role in this and we must acknowledge that there is now growing evidence that the State sent women and girls to the Magdalene laundries. The State also provided the religious orders which ran the laundries with direct and indirect financial support. It also failed abjectly to supervise the religious orders in the operation of the laundries. On that basis I support the motion and again appeal to the Minister to withdraw the amendment.

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