32 Magdalene laundry survivors get increased redress payment

Thirty-two Magdalene laundry survivors, who had been in dispute with the Department of Justice about the length of time they worked in a laundry, have received an increased redress payment.

The women were granted increased awards as part of a review process established in the wake of Ombudsman Peter Tyndall’s scathing 2017 report into the Magdalene redress scheme.

It found the Department of Justice had wrongly refused some Magdalene laundry survivors access to the scheme and that it had been maladministered by the department.

One of the Ombudsman’s principal recommendations was that a review be undertaken of cases where there was a dispute over the length of time spent in a laundry.

Mr Tyndall’s investigation found that the department relied on the records and sometimes just the word of the religious orders when deciding on applications.

The report said it was “not apparent what weight, if any, was afforded to the testimony of the women”.

The review of cases where there is a dispute over the length of time spent in a Magdalene laundry is being carried out by barrister Mary O’Toole, who has identified some 214 cases for review — the majority of which had not been the subject of an appeal by the applicants when the original award assessment has been made.

In 25 cases, an additional award has now been paid. In 16 cases, the original decision was upheld and no additional award has been made.

Some 164 applicants have withdrawn from the process, while 124 cases are still in progress with some queries outstanding. A total of 40 files have yet to be opened.

A total of 62 of the 109 women who applied to the widened redress scheme have received a payment. The scheme was widened in June of last year following the Ombudsman’s report.

These are made up of 52 cases refused under the original scheme who may now be eligible, and 57 new applications.

In February, the Irish Examiner highlighted the cases of 14 women who were in the An Grianán training centre and also worked in the High Park Magdalene laundry in Dublin, which was located in the same building. They had yet to receive an offer of redress despite being accepted to the widened scheme.

The Restorative Justice Unit within the Department of Justice, which administers the redress scheme, had told the women that the reason for the delay is that the order that ran the institution had stated that it stopped sending girls from An Grianán to work in the main laundry in 1980.

In April, the department accepted “on the balance of probabilities” that the women had worked in the laundry post-1980 and granted the women redress.

Earlier this month, 80-year-old Mary Cavner received a five-figure award for work she carried out in the Sunday’s Well Magdalene Laundry in Cork.

The Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) group has also repeatedly said the health package offered to survivors following the State apology in 2013 was not the one recommended by Mr Justice John Quirke.