TDs urged to deliver on Magdalene healthcare vow

The Government has been accused of failing to provide the healthcare package it promised to Magdalene Laundry survivors in 2013.

It comes as a bill to amend the redress scheme is passing through the Oireachtas. The scheme is being widened to include those women who worked in the laundry of one of 12 Magdalene institutions and who were resident in one of 14 adjoining institutions.

It followed ombudsman Peter Tyndall’s scathing 2017 report into the redress scheme which found the Department of Justice had wrongly refused some Magdalene laundry survivors access to the scheme and that it had been malad ministered by the Department.

However, in a letter to all TDs and senators, Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) urged public representatives to use the legislative opportunity to ensure the health package promised to survivors and recommended by Mr Justice John Quirke in 2013 is honoured.

“We in JFMR have repeatedly pointed out — and we have been joined by healthcare professionals in so doing — that the care services currently provided under the RWRCI [Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions] Act 2015 are not compliant with Judge Quirke’s recommendations,” states the letter.

The group pointed to differences in what is provided under the current scheme and what was recommended by Justice Quirke.

These include dental, ophthalmic and aural services, psychotherapy for survivors and access to counselling and psychotherapy for family members, complementary therapies, home care, and health and community care for survivors living abroad.

In a debate on the amendment in the Dáil last month, Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said the women were promised a standard of healthcare in line with that provided for through the Health Amendment Act (HAA) and that this had not yet been provided.

“In 2015, several dentists confirmed publicly that instead of receiving HAA standard services, as recommended by Mr Justice Quirke and agreed by the Government in 2013, Magdalene survivors had been given a card that entitled them only to a limited and incomplete treatment, equivalent to that available to most medical card holders,” he said.

In response, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said he was “very keen to ensure” that the health and social care services meet the needs of the women.

He said Justice Quirke had pointed out that the HAA was aimed specifically at those survivors who contracted hepatitis and some of the benefits were not directly applicable and that scheme would require some adaptation.

“The scheme proposed for the Magdalene women has such adaptation,” said Mr Flanagan. “People suffering from hepatitis C required some products outside the normal range of drugs available but that does not apply in respect of the Magdalene women.”

To ensure that women who worked in Magdalene institutions get access to best healthcare, provision is being made in this scheme for a number of health services to be provided by referral through a medical practitioner or nurse.

“I emphasise that this is not intended to in any way restrict services, as the focus must remain firmly on the health needs of the women.”