The possibility of the HSE running prison healthcare services instead of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) is currently under discussion, the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) has heard.

Magdalene campaigners have questioned why a State apology was given to laundry survivors when the Government denies the State has any liability in the matter.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and her department have been accused of misleading the UN by claiming the McAleese report made “no finding” in relation to State liability with regard to Magdalene Laundries.

The McAleese report is “neither accurate nor respectful” in the suffering women endured in Magdalene laundries, it has been claimed.

Slowly and forensically, layer by granular layer, the human rights treaty bodies have been building a three-dimensional model of Ireland’s compliance with its international obligations, writes Mark Kelly.

Over 1,600 women died in Magdalene laundries — more than double the figure cited by the McAleese report.

The terms of reference for the mother-and-baby home inquiry will be published following the first Cabinet meeting in the new year.

Initial enthusiasm from campaigners that the inquiry would be as wide ranging as possible, has been replaced by a worried scepticism, writes Conall Ó Fátharta

Will Ireland do right by all those it has failed? asks Claire McGettrick.

Half of the women at one Magdalene laundry in the 1950s and 1960s never left the institution again but died years later behind the convent walls, according to research which strongly contradicts the Martin McAleese report.

A United Nations human rights watchdog has called on Ireland to revise its strict rules on abortion.

Survivors of Magdalene laundries will begin to receive enhanced pensions and weekly top-up payments from the Department of Social Protection in the coming week, as part of the redress package designed by Mr Justice John Quirke.

The UN has again criticised the refusal by the four orders than ran the Magdalene laundries to offer any money towards compensating survivors.

Two of the four Orders which ran the Magdalene laundries have reaffirmed their refusal to offer any financial contribution to the compensation fund for survivors.

To say a forced adoption policy was not pursued here is laughable, says Conall Ó Fátharta

The UN has called on the Vatican to investigate the Magdalene laundries so those responsible for the abuse suffered in the institutions can be prosecuted.

An Bord Pleanála’s decision to turn down a memorial to victims of institutional abuse, planned for the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square in Dublin, represents a slap in the face for those who were treated outrageously by nuns and brothers of religious orders under the unseeing eyes of state agencies.

Nearly 700 Magdalene Laundry survivors who have so far applied for compensation payments will begin to receive funds under a government scheme in the next few weeks.

The Government has been told that its refusal to commission an independent investigation into the treatment of women in Magdalene Laundries is an issue that is “not going to go away”.

Dear Minister Lynch, First of all, thank you for your kind message about the article I wrote in last week’s Irish Examiner.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has described as “grossly misleading” a correlation between the lives endured by residents of the Magdalene laundries and the thousands of asylum seekers currently living in direct provision centres.

The Government has ruled out legal action to force religious orders to contribute to a compensation fund for survivors of the Magdalene Laundries.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he cannot force the religious orders to make a contribution to the redress scheme for former residents of the Magdalene laundries.

Religious congregations have a moral obligation to contribute to a fund to support survivors of the Magdalene laundries, Justice Minister Alan Shatter said.

A UN human rights panel has posed a list of tough questions to the Vatican about child abuse by Catholic priests, a potential embarrassment for Pope Francis.

President Michael D Higgins has told survivors of the Magdalene Laundries they suffered an enormous wrong at the hands of the State.

Comprehensive compensation is needed for survivors of Magdalene laundries including unpaid wages and pensions and rehab for forced labour, a watchdog has claimed.

The Department of Justice has said it has received the report about a potential redress scheme for survivors of the Magdalene laundries.

The Adoption Rights Alliance is considering going to the United Nations in order to force the State to grant adopted people the same rights as every other Irish citizen.

IN RECENT years there has been outrage following reports into clerical abuse, as well as the publication of the recent report into the behaviour at Magdalene Laundries.

The long awaited apology by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to the victims of the Magdalene Laundries has been understandably welcomed by a society that for more than a decade has revisited the horrors of Irish institutional detainment and abuse.

Following the Taoiseach’s apology this week, the Government is to make €250,000 immediately available to UK-based survivors of Magdalene laundries and industrial schools.

Redress should not be on an ex gratia basis. Religious orders should be made to pay and apologise for their treatment of the women, writes Claire O’Sullivan

The Taoiseach broke into tears as he made an historic and emotionally-charged state apology to survivors of the Magdalene laundries.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has refused to say if he will apologise to the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries today.

The Taoiseach is expected to travel to England over the coming days to hold further meetings with survivors of the Magdalene Laundries.

The Taoiseach has refused to say if he will apologise to the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries.

Former residents of the Magdalene Laundries said they expect to get a full state apology for what happened, following a “teary” three-hour meeting with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will meet with survivors of the Magdalene Laundries today to hear their stories.

I do not wish to make any political points, however I do want Taoiseach Enda Kenny to make an apology to the women survivors of the Magdalene Laundries.

The fallout from the McAleese Report is sure to continue, says Conall Ó Fátharta

The Taoiseach has again declined to offer a full apology to the survivors of the Magdalene laundries. He appealed for "space" to formulate the Government's response.

Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes has indicated the Government may make a full apology to the survivors of the Magdalene laundries, after it reads the report

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The stigma and suffering of former residents of the Magdalene Laundries has been “prolonged” by the Government’s failure to apologise for what happened, victims said.