Attorney General to examine laundries report

THE Government has asked the Attorney General to examine a groundbreaking report by the state’s human rights watchdog which calls for a statutory enquiry into the Magdalene Laundries.

Last night, Fianna Fáil TDs, Tom Kitt and Michael Kennedy and Labour’s Kathleen Lynch secured a Dáil adjournment to discuss the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) report, with all three calling on the state and religious orders to take responsibility. Having assessed documentation provided to them by the Justice For Magdalenes (JFM) group, the commission found there “was clear state involvement in women’s entry to the laundries” and the state may have breached international human rights law by failing to stop these women being “held in servitude”.

The IHRC also concluded involvement by the state in this area may have breached international law around forced labour and arbitrary detention.