‘Horrifying and shameful’

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.

They accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny of “cruelty and ineptitude” for his response to the 1,000-page report which revealed significant State involvement in the Church-run laundries where thousands of women were subjected to unpaid labour.

Declining to apologise, Mr Kenny said the report presented a story that was “very different from the impression that many people might have of what happened”.