Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Thinking of Magdalen laundries conjures up an image of a hidden history of Ireland because of their ugly nature. I always have difficulty referring to them as "laundries" or "factories". In truth, they were prisons - places in which those who were unfortunate enough to be incarcerated had no freedom. They did not have the choice to leave and did not receive any payment for the work they did.

They existed not only because of the role of the religious but because of collaboration between the State and the Church. The Church during this very dark period was the dominant force and politicians hid from it. That is why these prisons were allowed to continue because with few exceptions - among them two people who were Members of this Parliament in the past - politicians turned a blind eye because of the influence it had. That allowed these prisons, or laundries, to continue.

This Government set up the inquiry which brought about this debate and it has apologised on our behalf for the neglect of politicians and the State in the past and has agreed to put in place a mechanism to provide compensation for those concerned. It is good to have reached this stage.

As others mentioned this evening and in the previous debate, the State was not the only party involved in this. To our shame as citizens of this republic, most of the people were put into these institutions by their families. Let us not delude ourselves about who was to blame. Many families put family members into them. If we are to be honest with ourselves, we must face that.

There is also the role of the State and the predominant role of the Church, which owned and managed the so-called laundries. I have disagreements with some of the assertions in this report, a principal one being that these laundries did not make money.

They made lots of money. The proof is that during the late 1940s and 1950s these laundries were so competitive with commercial laundries that the commercial laundries closed down. In one case, 41 people lost their jobs in a private laundry located only ten minutes from this building. The Magdalen laundries took over its contracts. The laundries did make money. Those of us who had to leave this country and ended up among Irish communities in London met people there who were, as they described themselves, prisoners of Magdalen laundries. They confirmed that the laundries made money.

To conclude, not only has the church yet to apologise for its role in operating these prisons, it also has a role, because it made money, in compensating people. It is not for us politicians in this Dáil in a different age. We must stand up and say this. It is the only way of dealing with it. We must be honest with ourselves. The church has been as straight on this issue as it can be, and quite rightly so. It was complicit so it is now up to the church to give both compensation and an apology to these people, who were prisoners.

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