Magdalene scandal - Momentum can’t be lost

The cruelty of the news cycle, the relentless, unavoidable nature of the next, more pressing topic, has been very evident over the last few days and hours.

Three days ago, a report on how 10,000 women or girls, many of them isolated because they were single, pregnant or just too poor or uneducated to lead an independent life, dominated the headlines as only two or three stories do each year but today, the story of the Magdalene women has been overshadowed by events.

However, this does not mean the issue can be pushed back into the dark corner where it festered for decades. That would almost be a greater injustice than the social mores and terrible poverty — material and emotional — that created the need for refuges for women and girls during the first years of our independence.

Indeed, our history has unearthed so many heartbreaking stories of abuse and neglect that it might be a good idea to create a junior ministry or at least establish a Government office to see these matters to a satisfactory conclusion.

But most of all, the momentum generated this week on the Magdalene scandal cannot be lost.