Irish Examiner view: Saving the past to safeguard the future

Placing a 'site of national conscience' at Ireland's last Magdalene Laundry could be a fitting legacy

The site of the former Magdalene Laundry on Sean McDermott Street in Dublin. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

It is entirely understandable that plans to establish “a site of national conscience” on the location of Ireland’s last Magdalene Laundry will be divisive and upsetting for many people.

Thelaundries formed part of a bleak and menacing period in Irish history and one for which we hold near total responsibility which cannot be sloughed off on the excesses of some foreign power.