‘Freedom’ for survivors of the Laundries
President apologises to women who were ‘failed by the State’
Eileen Maguire and Mary Rossiter MICHAEL D Higgins yesterday apologised to women who were forced to work in Magdalene Laundries after they were “failed” by the State.
In a speech to hundreds who arrived at Aras an Uachtarain, the President said the victims were let down by the religious orders in a “very dark” period in the country’s history.
He added the stories labour and injustice” had stain” on society.
Accompanied by his wife Sabina, Mr Higgins hosted a drinks reception for crowds of females who travelled from around the world to speak out about their treatment when they were incarcerated in the institutions.
Unmarried mothers, girls considered troublesome or wayward and those with learning difficulties were kept in the Laundries run by nuns and made to carry out unpaid manual labour.
More than 10,000 women are thought to have passed through the institutions in Ireland between 1922 and 1996.
Describing them as “inspiring”, the President said: “I apologise to you, survivors of the Magdalene regime.
“Ireland failed you. When you were vulnerable and in need of the support of Irish society and its institutions, its authorities did not cherish you, protect you, respect your dignity or meet your needs and so many in the wider society colluded with all that through their silence.”
He added he hoped the visit was a chance to
“heal” and “come into the light from the darkness”.
There were cheers, tears and applause as of “forced left a “deep buses full of women arrived in front of the Aran – many waving excitedly to the large numbers of press in attendance. A tearful Mary Smith told how she and her mother Eileen were “locked up” adding: “This has left me shattered for the rest of my life. I’ve come here for justice for the people who suffered.” Mary Merritt, 87, who travelled from Kent, said: “The Church has never apologised to us.
“Without the press, the stories would never have been told.
“We also have to remember the women who cannot be with us today and were buried in mass graves.” After the President’s speech the women were taken to Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
Today they will discuss how they would like to be memorialised by the State in private meetings in the culmination of the two-day event organised by voluntary group Dublin Honours Magdalenes. Berney Casey from Kildare