Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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From correspondence supplied by the Deputy it appears that the person in question made an application to the Residential Institutions Redress Board in relation to her period of residence in a Magdalen laundry in 1961-1962.

Under the terms of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 financial awards are made to people who as children were abused while resident in institutions for which the State had a regulatory or supervisory responsibility. The scheme applies in respect of institutions which are listed in the Schedule to the Act. The Magdalen laundries are not listed in the Schedule as these were not subject to State regulation or supervision. However, Section 1(3) of the Act provides that children who were sent to the Magdalen laundries from an institution listed in the Schedule to the Act can be considered for financial redress if, as children, they were victims of abuse while resident in the laundries. The justification for this provision is that the State was still responsible for the welfare and protection of children who were transferred to a Magdalen laundry from a State regulated institution.

However, the situation in relation to children who were taken into the laundries privately or who entered the laundries as adults is quite different. The Magdalen laundries were privately owned and operated establishments which did not come within the responsibility of the State and, accordingly, women or children who were privately placed and resident in the laundries are not eligible for inclusion in the scheme.

I should add that, in the Government's initiatives to address past abuse, the needs of those who suffered abuse in institutions not covered by the Act is recognised and provided for and a range of measures has been put in place to assist them. These include the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, dedicated counselling services for victims of abuse and the amendment to the Statute of Limitations.