Donations to redress fund urged by Kenny

The Government has ruled out legal action to force religious orders to contribute to a compensation fund for survivors of the Magdalene Laundries.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said their charitable status could not be removed and that he wanted the orders linked to the laundries to consider voluntarily paying into the fund.

Any compensation would not be possible without the help of the orders when it came to documenting the time survivors had spent at institutions, he told the Dáil.