Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When the Taoiseach got to his feet in the Dáil and issued an apology to the survivors of the Magdalen laundries, everybody gathered here and beyond understood that this was the beginning of the end game for those women. It is astonishing to hear the four religious orders - the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Sisters of Charity and the Good Shepherd Sisters - say today that they will not contribute to the compensation fund for these women. Let it be said that the compensation and redress scheme envisaged is very modest and that despite the publication of the Quirke report, we have not had the necessary opportunity to debate and scrutinise that redress scheme in the Dáil. I raised the issue with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence and the Taoiseach. It was remiss of us as public representatives not to scrutinise the scheme.

It should also be said that the McAleese report which informed the work of Mr. Justice Quirke was an incomplete piece of work and at no point reflected the full brutality of the regime suffered by the girls and women in the Magdalen laundries. That said and given its lack of completeness, it must be said that the McAleese report represented the point in time where officially, finally and conclusively the State recognised the wrong done to those women and girls. These were women who were held against their will, who were subjected to forced labour and who suffered the stigma, shame and silence around their experiences in these laundries for many decades afterwards.

Women with direct experience of the laundries were very angered when they got word today that the religious orders have simply turned up their noses at them and that everybody is sorry for what happened but not sorry enough to make a financial contribution to the very modest redress and compensation these women are due. I very much hope that the Government is equally angered. I noted the comments by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence earlier in the day and I understand that he expressed disappointment. He needs to express more than disappointment. I would like him to tell us about the nature of the meetings with the religious congregations, who met them and when. What was the ask of Government to these congregations? Most crucially, what does the Minister propose to do about this matter now?

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