To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"welcomes the publication of the Final Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee chaired by Senator Martin McAleese, which was set up by Government to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries;
notes that:
the current Government was the first Government to take action on this important issue by commissioning the McAleese Report;
Government honoured its commitment to publish the McAleese Report at the earliest opportunity in the interests of the women who were admitted to, and worked in, the Magdalen Laundries run by the religious congregations and to facilitate the consultation with them which is now ongoing; and
publication of the Report itself has addressed a number of issues of major concern to the women concerned:
— it is the first time we have an authoritative account of the Magdalen Laundries;
— it acknowledges for the first time significant State involvement in the Magdalen Laundries;
— it demonstrates that for the first time they have been listened to and that their story has been believed, recorded and given official recognition to their stories and voices;
— it shows that the traditional stigmatising labels that were often attached to women who were in the Magdalen Laundries were wholly unjustified;
— it acknowledges that women worked in the severe conditions for no pay, and records their memories of emotional and psychological abuse as well as the memories of some women of other ill treatment, and that their daily lives in the Laundries had the imprint of a severe monastic structure where they were viewed as penitents; and
— it recognises that many women were not informed of why they were admitted to the Laundries, for how long they had to stay there, and when they could leave;
further notes that the McAleese Report runs to over 1,100 pages, and tells a complex story spanning decades since the establishment of the State and onwards, that it is the result of an unprecedented trawl of State records and that much of the information in the Report has never previously been made public;
further welcomes:
— the publication of the McAleese Report and that the women and their representative groups have been given time and space, as a matter of fairness, to reflect fully on the substance of the Report; and
— the fact that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste continue to meet with as many of the women as is practicable, so that their stories can be heard and their views can be taken into account;
notes that:
— Government’s major concern is to contribute to a healing and reconciliation process with a view to bringing closure for the women concerned and that the women deserve the best supports that the State can provide; and
— the Report will be fully debated in the Dáil next week; and
expresses confidence that, after having met with as many of the women concerned as possible and having listened to their views, the Taoiseach will respond to the significant issues identified in, and arising from, the McAleese Report, with a view to a resolution of all issues in a fair and compassionate way." — An tAire Dlí agus Cirt agus Comhionannais.
I am here today on behalf of my colleague, Minister Shatter, to address the motion before the House. Minister Shatter regrets his absence this evening, which is due to his presiding, as Minister for Defence, over the EU Council of Defence Ministers meeting in Dublin Castle. I know that, as someone committed over a number of years to getting at the truth of the issues surrounding the Magdalen Laundries, he would have very much liked to contribute to this evening’s debate. He will be here tomorrow evening and will contribute to the debate at that stage.
Shortly after the Government took office, due to their concern that the full story of the Magdalen Laundries should be known, Minister Shatter and I undertook the necessary preparatory work to propose to Cabinet the terms of reference for a fact-finding Committee on this issue and proposed Senator McAleese as its independent chairperson.
It was the Government’s commitment to addressing this longstanding and serious issue that resulted in it taking these steps and fully supporting the establishment of the Committee. Last week, the Minister announced Government approval for the publication of the final Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee, independently chaired by former Senator Martin McAleese, to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries.
The Report is extensive and detailed and runs to over 1,100 pages spanning the decades from the establishment of the State onwards. Early in his introduction to the Report, Senator McAleese says:
"Many of the women who met with the Committee - and particularly those who entered the Magdalen Laundries as young girls - experienced
the laundries as lonely and frightening places. For too long, they have been and have felt forgotten."
That is one of the great tragedies of the Magdalen Laundries. We must acknowledge that the hurt that many women felt during their time there was exacerbated by the failure of others over many years to listen to their stories or to seek out the truth of what had happened to them. The decision by this Government to establish a Committee to look at the issue of the State's involvement with the Magdalen Laundries was a clear recognition that that failure had to be addressed and the truth had to be found and told.
I suspect the last thing any of the women who were admitted to and worked in the Laundries need is for their plight to become a matter for political point scoring in this House. That is why it is a matter for regret that Fianna Fáil put this motion down in the full knowledge that the House was due to debate this Report shortly after the Government had an opportunity to devise a comprehensive response having considered the Report fully and spoken to the women directly concerned. People can judge for themselves the fact that people opposite are condemning this Government for failing to do in hours, what they themselves chose not to do during 14 years in Government.
The Government received this Report last Tuesday and were briefed by Dr. McAleese on it. One option was to delay publication of the Report until we had time to consider it fully, but in fairness to those who were admitted to and worked in the Magdalen Laundries, we decided that it should be published immediately.
We indicated that we needed a short time to formulate a detailed response to it and suggested that, against that background, it be debated in this House within two weeks of its publication. It would have represented a great disservice both to the women affected and to Dr McAleese if we had attempted to respond comprehensively in hours to a complex Report running, as I have said, to over 1,100 pages.
However that approach has since been portrayed, we took it for one reason: we wanted to do the right thing by those who were admitted to and worked in the Laundries.
I listened with interest last week to the contributions from across the House regarding the Magdalen Laundries. I have had an involvement with the issues of women who were admitted to and who worked in the Laundries for more than ten years. I visited with them in the UK on a regular basis the most recent being in December 2012 and tried to offer whatever advice and support I could.
I recall a particular meeting in 2003 at the Lazy Daisy Cafe in Notting Hill where a number of concerns were expressed in terms of the provision of services to Irish victims of abuse now living in the UK. I wrote to the then Minister for Education in November 2003 outlining the simple and reasonable requests of these people and what could be done to improve their lot.
These were just straight-forward matters such as the extension of a Freephone helpline to the UK; updates in the form of a newsletter; the provision of a fax and computer; the right to choose one’s own counsellor/therapist (it was proposed that nuns and other clergy would be involved in providing counselling which is somewhat incredible); assistance with the phone; a speedier response to queries; and a comprehensive media/information campaign.
All of the requests were met with deafening silence by successive Fianna Fail governments. As such, I find the hypocrisy of this motion quite galling. I quote from a letter I received yesterday from Cllr Sally Mulready on behalf of the Irish Women’s Survivors Support Network yesterday evening. This group represents the largest number of women that met with the McAleese Committee. In the letter, they commended the work of the Committee and went on to say, and I quote:
"On a political level, I find it mildly surprising that the main Opposition Party Leader can without shame and with significant amnesia express his disappointment at the failure of the State to apologise over the States culpability. The Opposition Party were in government for fourteen years and throughout kept people like me away , refused to listen and blocked our path at every turn.. Now in opposition and on behalf of his Party the
Opposition Leader rushes to accuse others. I think Mr Michael Martin TD should reflect on the years and years of misery and rejection they inflicted on the women by refusing all communication with us. The women as a consequence remained out in the wilderness for years trying to find a path to justice. I am afraid his apology is hollow." (End of Quote)
For 14 years the Fianna Fail led Government chose to completely neglect the tragedy of the Magdalen Laundries. The Irish Women Survivors Support
Network and others were stone-walled and fobbed off for years when all they wanted was recognition and an acknowledgement of the wrong done to them. This Government acted quickly to set up an inter-departmental Committee chaired by Senator McAleese and we are currently reflecting on the contents of the Report of that Committee.
It is a bit rich for Fianna Fail to be adopting a "holier-than-thou" stance when they had every opportunity to act on the matter but deliberately chose to do nothing and perhaps Deputy Martin or indeed any other Fianna Fail Deputy might answer this simple question "why did they choose to do nothing ? ". I was also interested to note the contributions from Sinn Fein. It seems the party has come very late to this issue as I see no mention of the Magdalen Laundries on their website prior to May 2011. Their actions seem to have been an effort to score political points and I would appeal to them not to make a political football of this issue and allow appropriate time and space for the matter to be properly debated.
I want to be absolutely clear about one thing: there is absolutely no hesitation on the part of the Government in making a considered and appropriate response to this Report. We will try to do this in a way that recognises the full complexities of the issues arising and meets the needs, insofar as we can, of the women who worked there.
That is what justice demands. That is why we sought a short time to prepare a comprehensive response to the Report. And that is further why, before finalising such a response, we want to listen to the women concerned.
Indeed, had we not done so we would have been rightly criticised in this House for any response we made to this Report. Given the length and complexity of the Report, it is understandable that much of the instant comment in the wake of its publication was not based on a full reading of the Report. I would like to thank and applaud the bravery of the women who came forward to tell their stories of their experiences in a Magdalen Laundry and the effect this had on their lives.
Like Minister Shatter, I hope publication of this Report and recognition of their experiences will be of some comfort to them and possibly even help to bring some closure on what they endured.
I would like to thank Dr McAleese for chairing this Committee. As Minister Shatter said last week, Dr McAleese brought integrity and independence to
this process and was instrumental in having the full co-operation of all the State agencies involved, the religious congregations, the representative and advocacy groups, and most importantly the women who were admitted to and worked in the Magdalen Laundries. There is no doubt but that independence and integrity was crucial in bringing together for the first time all that we now know about the Laundries and how they operated going back to the foundation of this State.
As Minister Shatter said last week, the Report tells a very complex story, or perhaps even many complex stories, spanning the decades from the establishment of the State onwards.
We now know that approximately 10,000 women entered Magdalen Laundries since 1922, through a whole range of different routes. These included State referrals as well as placements of girls and women in the Magdalen Laundries by many others, including significant numbers by families. We now also know that just over 60% of these women spent one year or less in the Laundries.
I hope that publication of this Report will be of comfort to those and all other women directly concerned. I appreciate that many women have felt shame or lived their lives under a cloud because of the stigma that attached to their time in the Magdalen Laundries, irrespective of the circumstances which resulted in their admission and regardless of how much time they spent there. This stigma was undeserved and its removal is long overdue. The Committee's Report clearly illustrates that the stigma derives from misconceptions relating to how women came to be in the Laundries.
Let me be absolutely clear that the issues raised by or, on behalf of those women who spent time in the Magdalen Laundries will be addressed by the Government.
Minister Shatter has in the past met with many of these women and has the greatest respect for the dignity and courage that they have shown. He wants to help and has long believed that this issue must be addressed. He had campaigned for a long time for the full story of the Magdalen Laundries to be told and he and I were instrumental in establishing this Committee.
To that end, this Government – unlike previous Governments - put this process in place. The work of Senator McAleese’s Inter-Departmental Committee obtained the co-operation of everyone involved – State Agencies, religious congregations, representative and advocacy groups and the women who entered and worked in these institutions.
In light of the McAleese Report, the Government wishes to explore what should and can now be done to address the issues raised. For the first time in the history of this State, we now know what happened in these institutions and we are addressing the issues. Make no mistake about it - we will see this through.
The Taoiseach and Tanaiste met with some of the women yesterday and we are taking their views into account. These women deserve the chance to directly share their experiences and views before the Government makes a decision on the most appropriate way to resolve the many issues identified in and arising from the McAleese Report.
They are being listened to and indeed one cannot but be impressed by their dignity and courage, shown so evidently in the last few days. There will be a full debate in this House next week and, pending that Debate, the Report will continue to be given full consideration by Members of Cabinet. For that reason, I commend the Government amendment to the House.
Thank you.