Magdalene lessons - Many ways to make apology real

The apology issued on behalf of all of us by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil last evening, to women who were held in one of the 10 Magdalene Laundries between 1922 and 1996, was inevitable and overdue.

It was also very welcome as not to offer one would have been utterly wrong and just too cold-hearted.

The symbolism of the leader of a government — and through him the nation — apologising for a historical wrong inflicted on a group once shunned and often shouted down should not be underestimated. Neither should the potency of the simple language used. It must be hoped, too, though this cannot be guaranteed or maybe even expected, that yesterday’s Dáil statement will help those women alive to hear the apology reach, even in a small way, some sort of personal peace over how they were so mistreated and abused.