McAleese report leaves questions unanswered

Given the chance to highlight victims’ stories, the McAleese committee sided with powerful institutions once more, writes Simon McGarr

THE entire report of the McAleese committee is torn by two rival narratives. On one hand, it is presented with the accounts given by religious orders and State agencies of their actions. On the other, it is confronted by the first-hand, oral, and written evidence of the women who were incarcerated in the Magdalene system.

The thrust of the report is to consistently prefer one form of evidence over the other, prompting the UN Committee Against Torture to ask: “Was survivor testimony given a lesser rank or status in this inquiry than written records of the State and the religious orders?”