Irish society should say ‘sorry’

With the publication of the first comprehensive official report of the Magdalene laundries, the national debate has been sidetracked into political self-righteousness.

Do opposition politicians, and ordinary members of society, achieve anything for the victims by racing to the high moral ground? The Taoiseach bungled his lines, but that is not the issue. Any apology by any Taoiseach would not satisfy me, and should not satisfy the victims, nor society.

The women who worked in the laundries were not the only victims. Many of these women were institutionalised as a consequence of unplanned pregnancies, with possibly the majority of their babies taken for adoption. These children remain victims. State law should support the reuniting of sundered families.