Religious agree to help Magdalenes

THE four religious congregations that ran the Magdalene houses in Ireland have agreed to help achieve justice for thousands of women who were forced to work in the laundries.

Acknowledging the workhouses as a “dark story of Irish society”, a joint statement issued on behalf of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, Religious Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy and the Good Shepherd Sisters includes a promise to assist any official investigation into the running of the homes.

The Government is under international pressure to establish a judicial inquiry following a call by a UN committee last Monday to investigate reports that women and girls sent to work in the laundries suffered widespread abuse.