Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 42: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality that leaving aside the work of the Inter-Departmental Committee being chaired by Senator Mc Aleese, the action he is taking to progress the issue of restorative justice for women of the Magdalene laundry system; his response to the Restorative Justice and Reparations scheme proposed by the Justice for Magdalenes group; when will the State lead on offering an apology and establish the dedicated unit; and if he is seeking legal advice on the proposed Commission for Financial Reparation as prepared by the JFM group. [31295/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Government considered the circumstances of women and girls who resided in the laundries at its meeting on 14 June 2011. As a first step, the Government decided that it was essential to establish fully the true facts and circumstances relating to the Magdalene laundries and a number of actions were agreed.

This included the setting up of an interdepartmental committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the laundries, to clarify any State interaction and to produce a narrative detailing such interaction. I am pleased to say that the committee, under the independent chairmanship of Senator McAleese, has submitted an interim progress report which was considered by Cabinet this morning and arrangements are being made for its publication this afternoon. I welcome the progress that is being made and, in particular, I am pleased to tell the House that the committee is receiving full co-operation from all concerned, including the religious orders and representative groups of women who were formerly resident in the laundries and those who have been campaigning on their behalf.

The Government decision also charged both myself, as the Minister for Justice and Equality, and the Minister of State with responsibility for disability, equality, mental health and older people, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, with meeting the religious congregations and the groups representing former residents of the laundries. One of the purposes of these meetings was to discuss the putting in place of a restorative and reconciliation process as well as the structure that might be utilised to facilitate such process. All of these meetings have taken place, including with representatives from the Justice for Magdalenes group. My Department recently received from them the document referred to by the Deputy and it is currently being considered. I might also add that the views of other representative groups and the religious orders are also being considered. It is important, therefore, to emphasise that we are engaged in a process which is seeking to fully establish the facts and it is too early at this stage to predict what the outcomes might be.

I am pleased with the work being undertaken and the full co-operation which has been received by the group led by Senator Martin McAleese. The dialogue in which we have engaged directly has been very constructive and I wish to commend Senator McAleese for the Trojan work of both him and his group in a very short period of time.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I wish to acknowledge the work of the Justice for Magdalenes group, the members of which have done tremendous work. They have taken up a cause that nobody else wanted to deal with for a very long time.

During the recent theatre festival I attended a play which was based in the Magdalene laundry in Seán MacDermott Street. This was an interactive production so I was there as part of the congregation. I was there for approximately one hour and I thought I would never get out of the place. I can only imagine what the women, the ladies, went through.

I acknowledge the Minister's reply to my question but it seems that many of the issues raised are at the stage of being considered rather than action being taken. These ladies have waited long enough. I do not wish to be cynical and query if the Minister is waiting until they have all died but there is that element about it.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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A question, please.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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There are specific aspects to my original question. I ask what is being done in the meantime. I do not believe there has been any advance with regard to the apology or the legal advice being sought by the Minister. When does the Minister expect the final report and is he committed to implementing any recommendations?

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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When the Deputy sees the interim report which is being published this afternoon she will note that Senator McAleese describes in great detail the progress that has been made. All of the religious congregations have co-operated with him to the extent that all of their records going back over 90 years have been made available to him and to his interdepartmental group. Substantial work is ongoing within each Department which can provide any information from its files of any description with regard to the State's contact with the Magdalene laundries going back to 1922. All this information is being compiled. This is very important work because the background, the story of the events that occurred over those years, is perhaps a little more complex when it is put in the context of the different eras and decades, than has been portrayed to date.

I very much welcome the constructive progress that has been made. The Government will not pre-empt the work of Senator McAleese's group in dealing with the religious orders, the Justice for Magdalenes group and the other groups. When that work is complete, other issues will then be addressed. In the meantime a question does not arise and I ask the Deputy to withdraw the suggestion that anyone is waiting for people to die.

This is the first Government to make specific decisions to address the very genuine worries and concerns that have been expressed by those who lived in the Magdalene laundries. We have put in place a process in which we are also moving forward on other fronts. The possibility of a restorative justice scheme operating is under active consideration between the religious congregations and the former residents. We are looking at the possibility of a repository in which all the records of the laundries are retained. In the meantime, significant progress has been made in a very short period of time by Senator McAleese's group.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I acknowledge it is this Government which has begun the work. However, an important point needs to be made about the timeframe. Many of these ladies are very elderly and it is being said in certain quarters that there seems to have been a delaying tactic. I look forward to reading the report this afternoon and no doubt there will be a need for a further priority question.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Has the Deputy a question at this point?

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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No.