Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak about the Magdalen laundries this evening. I have already said that I welcome the fact that the Government set up the interdepartmental committee last July, chaired by then Senator, Martin McAleese. His report is a very thorough one and it confirms for the first time that there was State involvement with these laundries.

The previous Government should have set up a group to examine State involvement with the Magdalen laundries and I am sorry it did not. However, I wish to acknowledge the work that my colleague, Deputy Dara Calleary, did with the groups, alongside other Deputies from across this side of the House. It is unfortunate that yesterday evening the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, decided to be extremely partisan in her contribution in the House. Tonight, we have seen more speakers on the Government side follow this ill-conceived tactic. This day last week at the Labour Party parliamentary party meeting, 12 Labour Party people spoke of the need for an immediate apology and put forward the view that the publication of this significant report was not handled properly. Some Labour Party members went on national and local radio to articulate and confirm this.

Fianna Fáil put forward this motion with one objective in mind: to support the women who were in the Magdalen laundries. The organisations representing the women welcomed the motion, as did the National Women's Council and other organisations. We believe an apology should be given and that a special unit should be set up in the department of Justice and Equality so that all the women's needs can be dealt with. This report is an extremely valuable account that vindicates the women involved. It ends the secrecy, silence and the shame that the women felt. I also want to acknowledge and commend the report done in 2007 by James Smith, the Boston-based academic who describes so well how difficult it is to "separate academic detachment from personal indignation, as moral outrage and academic detachment do not sit easily on the same page".

Evidence in the McAleese report illustrates the State involvement that was not fully evident previously, even when civil servants gave evidence to a high-level UN committee in 2009. The McAleese report confirms that 26.5% of the women in the Magdalen laundries were there due to State involvement. It confirms the validity of their accounts and the consequences of the humiliation they endured. It absolutely confirms their right to an apology and to comprehensive redress. The report is honest about its limitations, which are its terms of reference and "the small sample of women available". The women who came forward were very brave and must be commended for their bravery. They felt like slaves and were treated like slaves. Their personal testimonies, not only those in the report but also the ones given on radio and television, added to the anger felt when an apology was not given when the report was published. This failure added to the women's anger and distress. No doubt this outcome was not intentional, but unfortunately that was the outcome, whether the Government accepts it or not. Because these women vary in age and some of them are very elderly, the delay in apologising only added to their distress. It is obvious to me that the Government published the report prematurely. The groups had been expecting it for a few weeks, but could not believe that even though it was delayed, it was not published with an apology. It is in stark contrast to the Keane report, for example, which the Government considered for months before publishing it.

Everyone in this House agrees that what the women in the laundries went through was totally and utterly unacceptable. However, there were women in laundries across Ireland that were not included in the report, Stanhope Street and Summerhill in particular. Women were sent to the laundries against their will or with the consent of their parents or by the State and were expected to work for months and years without any pay. The work was very physical and days were long. While working they were deprived of education. They were not allowed leave and could only speak when they were spoken to. Today on Joe Duffy's show, women from New York outlined what they went through as well.

As a State we must stand up against this very sensitive, hurtful and complex part of Ireland's history, and there should be an all-party approach, if possible, to reaching a satisfactory solution. The women who resided and worked in these institutions were referred to as "penitents" or "inmates" and latterly as girls and women. Some were sent in as young as nine or 12 years of age. The duration of stay varied from months in some cases to years in others. Women's names were changed. Some women said they were held in locked dormitories with bars on the windows and the premises were surrounded by very high walls so that the outside world was invisible. Priests, nuns, parents and the State hid behind what happened in the laundries. It is time we all owned up. The women felt neglected and stigmatised and this feeling did not leave them when they left the laundries. They were not just institutionalised from their time inside; they have carried the burden for the remainder of their lives. They still carry it.

Even today, some women are still uncomfortable with being identified because of the stigma they feel. By recognising and accepting their accounts of what happened to them, we will enable them to start their healing. I believe the women. We all believe them. For the State to admit it is sorry will help the women start to feel vindicated. That is crucial at this stage. Counselling services should be provided and that is why we believe a special unit is justified.

I am aware that there will be statements in the Dáil next Tuesday on the report and I welcome that, but I regret that the women did not receive the apology they so richly deserved on the same day the report was published. Deep down the Oireachtas knows this should have been done. I look forward to the correct and right thing being done for the women and their families.

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