Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I cannot believe we are in the Chamber discussing this again. This is another circumstance which, to my mind, represents an utter betrayal of the women who survived the Magdalen laundries. In their youth these women were violated and abandoned by the State. They had to fight for decades to receive redress for the damage done to them by the State. Now, we are about to implement this redress scheme, but what do they find?

Let us put first things first. The medical card they have been issued with is effectively branded. It is stamped in clear writing that the scheme relates to people eligible under the Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Act, thus identifying them as Magdalen survivors. I cannot believe how anyone dreamt this up. I assume the justification is that this entitlement will give concessions that other medical cards do not give - I will deal with that point. If that is the justification, it could easily have been done by an initial or something like that. The idea that these women should have their privacy breached in circumstances involving their doctor, pharmacist, the person who finds their handbag on the bus, or a grandchild, who picks up the card and asks her granny what the words mean, is absolutely outrageous. These branded medical cards must be withdrawn. I would love to see an answer to the question of who dreamed it up. I simply do not know but I expect there should be a public apology for that aspect of it.

The second aspect is equally important. These women were led to believe by Mr. Justice Quirke and others that they were entitled to a medical card with benefits equal to the benefits of those under the Health (Amendment) Act scheme. Under the HAA scheme the supporting documentation ran to 58 pages setting out the benefits available to people on that scheme. The additional documentation for this scheme runs to five pages. As Justice for Magdalenes has said, it amounts to not much more than an ordinary medical card, which 90% of the women have anyway. The drugs, medicines and appliances are restricted to what is on the reimbursement list anyway. There are no complementary therapies, no counselling without a general practitioner referral, no counselling for family members, no appeals or complaints board and nothing for the women overseas.

This absolutely needs to be addressed. It represents a betrayal of these women. The scheme itself is completely inadequate. As organisations like Amnesty International, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the National Women's Council of Ireland and Justice for Magdalenes have pointed out, it is not actually human rights compliant at all. These women deserve more. My appeal to the Minister of State, and that of Justice for Magdalenes, is for emergency legislation to address this shortfall and ensure the scheme is in line with what Mr. Justice Quirke recommended. Those involved point out that 512 women have waived their right to legal action in anticipation that they would secure the full benefits. What they have got instead is a branded medical card and that is completely unacceptable.

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