State to finally compensate women it ignored for decades

After decades of being ignored, survivors of the Magdalene Laundries have finally been offered a compensation scheme by the State for their years of slave labour.

Along with a raft of medical and pension entitlements, the scheme prepared by president of the Law Reform Commission Justice John Quirke recommends survivors receive a sliding scale of payments depending on how long they spent in the institution.

The payments will range from €11,500 for women who spent three months or less in a laundry, to a maximum of €100,000 for those who were in a laundry for 10 years or more.