merrion street

Alan Shatter TD, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence today announced the payment of €250,000 to the UK based Irish Women Survivors Support Network (IWSSN) to enable them to continue to provide support, advice and assistance to women survivors of Irish institutions including women who were in Magdalen laundries.

Speaking today, Minister Shatter said, “The IWSSN have done good work for a considerable time supporting those women in the UK who cannot avail directly of the services provided by the Irish Government. The Government want to register their appreciation of the work done to date and make a financial contribution so that good work can continue and improve. Over 100 applicants of the 600 or so applications to date under the Quirke Scheme came from women in the UK.”

The funding will not be used for the payment of direct financial assistance to any individual, as financial payments under the ex-gratia scheme recommended by Judge Quirke will be made directly by the Department to the individual women concerned.

To facilitate good governance, the Group have recently registered as a not for profit Company Limited by Guarantee and an agreement has been entered into to route the funding through Voluntary Action Camden, a Registered Charity. Voluntary Action Camden (VAC) has provided support to IWSSN for many years. VAC is a long standing registered charity which supports, develops and promotes voluntary and community groups.