Harney to raise question on laundries

MINISTER for Health Mary Harney has agreed to raise the question of the state’s ambivalent role in sending women to Magdalene laundries at a forthcoming Cabinet meeting.

The move is being seen as a minor breakthrough by the Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) group who have been lobbying ministers and TDs for nearly a year in an effort to receive an official apology from the State and a redress system for these now elderly women.

Ms Harney also said she would attempt to establish via census records the numbers of women who were held in such establishments.