‘Bank law in hours but Magdalenes have to wait’

Justice for Magdalenes have questioned how the Government can pass legislation to liquidate a bank in a matter of hours but need yet more time to issue an apology to Magdalene survivors.

Claire McGettrick of JFM questioned why the Government needed time to reflect on a report which categorically stated that the State was complicit in all areas of the operation of the Magdalene laundries.

She said the Government obviously found it easier to push through a piece of legislation in the Dáil in a matter of hours than to offer an apology to a small group of women.

“It’s clear that the Government was able to stay up all night to liquidate a bank but couldn’t find the time to apologise to a small group of vulnerable women, some of whom are in cold houses and in poverty. It says it all really,” she said.

The growing outrage over the continuing lack of an apology led to the Labour parliamentary party issuing a statement on Wednesday calling for an immediate apology. Junior minister Kathleen Lynch, who has faced criticism from survivors over her response to the report, also shifted her position and has said that in her “personal opinion” an apology should given.

The Taoiseach’s stance has already seen him branded “cruel” by Sinn Féin, while criticism of the Government’s handling has also been voiced at a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said a State apology should be offered with “no ifs or buts.”

Ms McGettrick welcomed the interventions, but said, as well as an apology, redress and compensation needed to be arranged for women as the State was liable.

“We in JFM would welcome the fact that parliamentary parties are issuing the call for an apology, but they also need to call for redress and compensation for these women. The State has been found to have been directly involved with the Magdalene laundries and so an apology and redress needs to happen immediately,” she said.

President Michael D Higgins also made a pointed intervention during his official visit to Italy.

“I think the important thing now is to recognise all the different elements and make an appropriate response,” he said.

“There is the issue of involuntary detention, which is a rights issue; there is the issue [of] labour being taken and perhaps not rewarded.”