By It’s 1967. You are fourteen and you sneak out to the cinema which has just opened. You are so excited to see the moving picture that your leg bounces up and down as you wait in line. It is a wonderful experience, and you sneak back into your house, prepared to reflect on it for days to come.
Then, you are caught and physically examined to ensure your enduring virginal state. No matter what the doctor finds, it is too late. You have disgraced your family you are sent to a Catholic laundry to work from dawn to dusk. You wash filthy clothes, make lace handkerchiefs and linen tablecloths for export for profit but you see none of the money. You cannot leave or escape. You are paid nothing. This is the story of thousands of Irish women and girls in the Magdalene laundries run by the Catholic Church until 1994.
Originally the laundries were set up in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the rescue movement to rehabilitate sex workers. However, in Ireland the mandate was extended to include unmarried mothers, girls who had been raped, survivors of incest, girls deemed at risk of falling into sin (becoming sexually active) and girls who were considered to pretty to be pious – the jezebels of the country. Girls were denounced from the altar, in front of the congregation, for unnamed mortal sins because sex and sexuality were utterly taboo.The Catholic Church, which enjoyed a special relationship to the government and within the Constitution, scapegoated female sexuality over and over again, with devastating results.
To understand how Irish parents could withdraw all contact and send their daughters to slave in the laundries, the issue of keeping face must be understood. In a rural Irish village, any action that could bring shame to the family or even cause the neighbours to gossip was ruthlessly crushed. Of course, this dictate was enforced more stringently on women and girls. No proof was required or defence allowed.
Girls in institutional care, run by the Church and funded by the State, were often committed to laundries from which there was no escape. The laundries acted as a sword of Damocles to keep the girls in line. However, with puberty, few could hide their bodies. The nuns seemed to view this development as a personal affront. Many of the estimated 30 000 inmates were already in institutional care.
The conspiracy of silence between the church and the state resulted in a system of slavery. The girls and women would be committed by a priest, nun or family member. They were forced into hard labour, without pay or rest, without the capacity to leave or refuse to work. Physical punishment was routine and harsh. On arrival, each penitent, as they were referred to, received a new name to symbolise her rebirth from sin. If a penitent died in the laundry, she was buried in a communal grave.
The extent of the abuse was revealed in 1993 when the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity sold land in Glasnevin to a property developer. Upon exhumation of a communal grave it was discovered that only 75 of the 133 bodies were named. Since that time, the survivors of the Magdalene laundries and their supporters have been trying to get an apology and compensation from the government. Neither has been forthcoming.
The issue came to a head when last week, the Minister for Education, Batt O’Keeffe, issued a statement to make the point that
“In terms of establishing a distinct scheme for former employees of the Magdalen laundries, the situation in relation to children who were taken into the laundries privately or who entered the laundries as adults is quite different to persons who were resident in State-run institutions.” [source - The Irish Times]
Naturally, women who slaved in the laundries took exception to being referred to as employees. As a result, people from all over Ireland have been ringing the national broadcaster with their stories and the stories of their parents.
Still from "The Magdalene Sisters." A 2002 film by Peter Mullan.
One such account comes from a woman who, following assurances of an education, left her daughter in a Magdalene laundry. The mother was not gone fifteen minutes before the child was at hard labour. The religious order running the laundry, sent term reports to the mother on the faked educational progress of her daughter. Her daughter never received a day’s education.
In a further ham-fisted attempt to cover up his gaffe, Minister O’Keeffe released a non-apology apology. This has added to the ire of the public. There are calls for his resignation.
The Irish people have a long way to go in terms of admitting what happened behind those closed doors. The conspiracy of silence included many public servants. Nobody blew the whistle on the crimes inflicted on the soul of the country and on the bodies of our children, girls and women. The physical, emotional and sexual abuse that was systemic in institutional care, coupled with the slavery of the Magdalenes, is a trauma that cannot be swept conveniently under the carpet.
An apology from the government and compensation for their suffering is the bare minimum of action. However, I have written to the government to urge the expelling the religious orders involved, the seizing their properties and their records, providing for the needs of the survivors, and constructing a full picture of what happened. The religious orders are immune to prosecution at the moment, but all is takes is a new piece of legislation. I believe the Minister for Education needs to resign as well. Those forced to labour without payment are not “employees.” If the Minister cannot understand this point then perhaps he is not suited to his position.
Perhaps these actions might go some way to showing the survivors take their suffering is recognised and that they are entitled to the same protection as any other citizen, no matter how badly we failed them in the past.
6 Comments
Let’s be clear about where the compensation would come from: It is not the goverment’s money, it is tax payer’s money.
Should the current tax payer pay compensation for cruelty of the past by people many of whom have since died?
Perhaps the most democratic thing to do would be to invite the people of Ireland to contribute individually, whatever they feel is appropriate and then distribute the pool of money to the victims.
Additionally the wealthy, land-owning catholic institution that were responsible could be force to pay-up and sell their land where necessary.
I am well aware that it is the taxpayer’s money which is why I’ve written to the Taoiseach and Minister for Justice to expel the religious congregations from the country and seize their lands and records. Compensation would be paid from the proceeds.
It’s not that far in the past. The last laundry closed in 1994 and ultimately that doesn’t matter. The taxpayer is bailing out the banks, the property developers and giving golden parachutes to corrupt incompetent people. We can apologise to these women and ask them what they need. Maybe it’ll be money, counselling, a gated community, or what ever they need. Maybe we can learn from the horrible treatment of the survivors of institutional abuse.
It was our parents, grandparents, cousins and relatives that purchased the lace and linen made by the slavery of these women. It was our clothes they washed. The clothes of the children who went to boarding school like Batt O Keeffe. So I think we do have a responsibility to ensure that they do not have to struggle at this stage of their lives.
How does one measure an appropriate amount to pay a slave? Nothing we do can make up for what happened.
Let’s be honest here: yes, it is primarily the fiscal responsibility of State and Church to insure Magdalene survivors receive justice. But at the end of the day, Irish society was also aware and complicit in the remanding of young girls and women to these gulags. Many families were responsible for sending their daughters into a lifetime of servitude.
This is why our path to justice has been such a hard one. Irish society must own up to its own culpability in the history of the Magdalene Laundries, or we will never be able to move forward. I understand that the authorities — State, Church, Gardai, Courts — must bear the majority brunt. But at the end of the day, we must all be accountable for this injustice.
If Irish citizens do not wish to bear the burden of potential redress, then I urge you to help us in our campaign to fight for justice for survivors and keep pressure firmly on State and Church.
I have just recently, within the last month, learned of the horror story of that which is the Magdalene’s. I am in the US, however I am of Irish heritage and it disgusts me that I am related in anyway to those who could do such horrible things to people in general, let alone people who needed help! I have done alot of research and I think it’s everyones job to atleast offer some type of support to the Magdalene survivors! Everyone thinks of money when they think of support..these women need counseling or any kind gesture one can offer them! I can not offer them money, because I am a pre-med and a nursing major in college with diabetes and my insulin is expensive. However I will offer anyone needing emotional support help! We all need to think outside the box and the officals in Ireland need to realize that it was a horrible happening that they allowed and the Catholic Chruch needs to address it as well. We are all accountable for our actions and so are they!
My thoughts and prayers are with the Magdalene survivors and may God forgive those who harmed the Magdalene’s, because God does know I sure won’t!
There is a moral compunction on the religious orders/rogue employers to pay up. All wages including holiday and pension money must be paid. The only thing these religious orders/rogue employers were ever protective of was money.
I was put into a mother and baby home when I was 18, St Patrick’s home, Navan Rd. I was emotionally and phycially abused. I am now nearly 50, and my experience in the home ruined my life. When I applied to the redress board about 5 years ago, I was told that because I was 18, and when in there voluntary, I was not entitled to compensation. The thing is, my mother put me in, with the treat that I’d be on the streets if I didn’t go.
Just my story……….
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[...] sickening report on the Magdalene slaves is very distressing indeed. Wayward (or not even so wayward) Irish girls [...]