‘The State as guardian failed utterly and failed again by refusing to apologise’

Campaign group Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) has accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny of cruelty and ineptitude in his refusal to apologise to the survivors of Magdalene laundries.

It also said the McAleese Report understated the number of women incarcerated in the laundries by as much as 50%, and that it utterly minimised the abuse they suffered.

They also rejected the finding the religious orders made little or no money from the laundries which, they stressed, had lucrative contracts and an unpaid workforce.