‘He did us proud, now we can get on with our lives’

There were scenes of joy and gratitude outside Leinster House last night as victims cheered and whooped following the Taoiseach’s apology for the State and the people of Ireland’s involvement in the Magdalene laundries.

Enda Kenny described the laundries as “the nation’s shame” as he said the State accepted its role in the incarceration of over a quarter of the 10,000 women who worked without pay, often for years, in the laundries.

“I believe I speak for millions of Irish people all over the world when I say we put away these women because, for too many years, we put away our conscience,” he said.