NWCI again urges women politicians to support Justice for Magdalenes

Published: Thursday, June 02, 2011

2 June 2011

Susan McKay, CEO of the National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI), is writing to all women TDs, Senators, and Local Councillors encouraging them to support Justice of Magdalene's (JFM) proposed "Restorative Justice and Reparations Scheme" for all survivors of the Magdalene Laundries. McKay's letter reminds women politicians that:
"JFM is calling for; an apology from the State and the religious orders who ran the Magadalen laundries, a lump sum compensation scheme for women survivors, a statutory pension reflecting their years of work in the laundry institutions, and complete access to their records...The National Women's Council supports this call for justice."
The NWCI letter coincides with the expected announcement next week by Minister for Justice, Mr. Alan Shatter, T.D., who told the Dáil on 18 May last that he will "bring the matter before the Government by the end of the first week in June at the very latest" (http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2011-05-18.364.0&s=magdalene#g365.0)
McKay's letter reminds politicians of the IHRC Assessment of JFM's inquiry application (9 November 2010), which recommended that the government establish a statutory inquiry into abuses at the Magdalene laundries and provide redress where appropriate. The letter also refers politicians to the UN Committee Against Torture's examination of Ireland last week, during which a number of Committee members challenged the government's position on the laundries.

Susan McKay, CEO of NWCI, said: "Women politicians throughout the country have expressed their deep concerns to us about the position of the women who continue to live with the trauma of their experiences in the Magdalene Laundries. The UN Committee against Torture has made its position clear and has repeated its requests for an independent investigation into the Magdalene Laundries and called for redress for the women who suffered" she said.

"We are again writing to all women T.D.'s Senators and Councillors calling on them as women, as public representatives and as people charged with the responsibility to ensure that justice and human rights prevail, to do what they can to bring justice and a sense of peace to the women involved. We are asking them to communicate with each other within and between their parties and political alliances at local and national levels and to exert their collective influence to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion" she added.

Mari Steed, Director of JFM's Coordinating Committee, said, "The world is watching to see how Ireland metes justice to its most vulnerable citizens. And a decision must be reached soon: time is not on the side of these women and we cannot abide a continued policy of 'deny til' they die'".