VICTIMS:THE RELIGIOUS congregations which operated Magdalene laundries will be asked by the Government at a forthcoming meeting to consider releasing records for all women and children who entered their laundries after January 1900.
Minister for Health Mary Harney assured the Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) group yesterday that the matter would be raised with the religious orders, which are due to meet the Government again soon to discuss their financial contribution to victims in the aftermath of the Ryan report.
The JFM group, which is seeking an apology for the way women were treated in the laundries as well as a redress scheme, said its meeting with Ms Harney yesterday was a positive one.
Claire McGettrick, spokeswoman for JFM, claimed the four congregations which ran the laundries had been refusing to release their records in order to limit their liabilities. They did not make (the then equivalent) PRSI contributions on behalf of Magdalene women.
She said evidence was presented to Ms Harney showing the Department of Health had been complicit in referring women to Magdalene laundries from mother and baby homes from the 1930s on.
Ms McGettrick said the State can no longer claim it had no involvement. “Mr Cowen should issue an official apology and he should work to establish a distinct redress scheme,” she said.