Five women who had been in Magdalen laundries met the secretary general of the Department of Justice Sean Aylward and assistant secretary James Martin for a two-hour meeting today. Compensation for the women and a State apology were among topics discussed.
Mary Smith (57), Marina Gambold (nee Fitzgerald) (74), Maureen Sullivan (62), Maureen Taylor (57), and Kathleen Legg (74) were accompanied by Steven O’Riordan, director of the film `The Forgotten Maggies’. It was shown last July at the Galway Film Fleadh and at up to 15 other venue around Ireland since then.
Another meeting between the officials and the women is to take place in two to three weeks' time.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, who facilitated the meeting, was unable to attend as he spent most of today in the Seanad debating the Criminal Procedure Bill
Acting as spokesman for the women, Steven O’Riordan said they had told Mr Aylward that, as the State had funded some of the laundries after 1979, particularly those in the then Eastern Health Board region, it bore a responsibility for the women held in such institutions.
They had also informed Mr Aylward that the women had written to the religious congregations which managed the laundries until 1996 and that it was hoped the congregations ``would come onboard’’ where compensation was concerned.
Should they not do so, it was proposed that the Buttimer solicitors firm in Cork would take a class action against the congregations on crimes against humanity grounds.
Concerns surrounding the 1993 exhumation of women who had been in the Magdalen laundry at High Park , Drumcondra in Dublin , were also raised and Mr Aylward agreed to write to the Garda Commissioner concerning an investigation into it.
The Department officials also agreed to raise the women’s concerns with the Department of Education. It is responsible for the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme, which does not extend to Magdalen laundries under current legislation.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said tonight that the meeting with the women had been “very constructive and helpful”.
Marina Gambold said she was “very pleased to have been here today looking for justice for all who suffered”. Maureen Taylor said she was “quite pleased with the outcome”, while Mary Smith said she was “very glad to meet the officials”.