State had 'significant' role in Magdalene laundry referrals

Some 10,000 women and girls entered Magdalene laundries since 1922 with more than a quarter of referrals made or facilitated by the State, a report has found.

The 'Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries' was published this afternoon. It found "significant" State involvement in the laundries.

In the report, the committee said it found “no evidence” to support the perception that “unmarried girls” had babies in the laundries or that many of the women were prostitutes.

“The reality is much more complex” committee chairman Dr Martin McAleese writes in the introduction.

The women admitted to the laundries “have for too long felt the social stigma” of the “wholly inaccurate characterisation” of them as “fallen women”, he said. “[This is] not borne out of facts.”

In the Dáil this afternoon, Taoiseach Enda Kenny expressed his sympathies with survivors of the laundries and the families of those who have died. “To those residents who went into the Magdalene laundries from a variety of ways, 26 per cent from State involvement, I’m sorry for those people that they lived in that kind of environment,” he said. However, he stopped short of issuing a full State apology.

Reasons for Entry

The committee found a wide range of reasons women and girls entered the 10 religious run laundries operating in the State between 1922 and 1996.

Reasons include: referrals by courts, mostly for minor or petty offences; by social services; from industrial and reformatory schools; rejection by foster parents; girls orphaned or in abusive homes; women with mental or physical disabilities; poor and homeless women and girls placed by their families for reasons including socio-moral attitudes.

Women and girls referred from industrial schools and non-State agencies would not have known why they were being sent or how long they had to stay in the laundries, the report finds. Those referred by officials in criminal justice and social services would have been told reason and duration.

“None of us can begin to imagine the confusion and fear experienced by these young girls, in many cases little more than children,” Dr McAleese writes. “Not knowing why they were there, feeling abandoned, wondering whether they had done something wrong and not knowing when, if ever, they would get out to and see their families again”.

State involvement

The committee found “significant State involvement” with the laundries, Dr McAleese writes.

Referrals were made or facilitated by the State made up 26.5 per cent (2,124) of the 8,025 cases for which reasons are known.

Some 8 per cent of women were referred to by the criminal justice system, either on remand, as a condition of probation or less formal referrals such as from the Garda. Some of the criminal justice referrals were based on legislation while others were ad hoc or informal. Common crimes included failure to purchase a ticket, larceny, vagrancy, assault.

Almost 8 per cent were referred from industrial schools, another almost 7 per cent from health and social services and almost 4 per cent from mother and baby homes. Some women were referred to laundries by the health and social services because it was cheaper than State-run facilities, the report said.

The report found direct State involvement in: routes of entry, workplace regulations and inspections, funding and financial assistance to laundries, routes of exit, death registrations.

The committee found the laundries were as workplaces subject to the Factories Acts and inspected by the State to the same extent as commercial laundries. The records show the laundries were generally compliant but standards are not equivalent to current workplaces.

Conditions in the laundries

The girls found themselves alone in a “harsh and physically demanding work environment”, Dr McAleese writes. The laundries were “lonely and frightening” places for many of the women.

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State involvement

The committee found “significant State involvement” with the laundries, Dr McAleese writes.

Referrals were made or facilitated by the State made up 26.5 per cent (2,124) of the 8,025 cases for which reasons are known.

Some 8 per cent of women were referred to by the criminal justice system, either on remand, as a condition of probation or less formal referrals such as from the Garda. Some of the criminal justice referrals were based on legislation while others were ad hoc or informal. Common crimes included failure to purchase a ticket, larceny, vagrancy, assault.

Almost 8 per cent were referred from industrial schools, another almost 7 per cent from health and social services and almost 4 per cent from mother and baby homes. Some women were referred to laundries by the health and social services because it was cheaper than State-run facilities, the report said.

The report found direct State involvement in: routes of entry, workplace regulations and inspections, funding and financial assistance to laundries, routes of exit, death registrations.

The committee found the laundries were as workplaces subject to the Factories Acts and inspected by the State to the same extent as commercial laundries. The records show the laundries were generally compliant but standards are not equivalent to current workplaces.

Conditions in the laundries

The girls found themselves alone in a “harsh and physically demanding work environment”, Dr McAleese writes. The laundries were “lonely and frightening” places for many of the women.