Board index › Topical Discussion › Politics, Philosophy, and Religion

Survivors of the Magdalene Laundries meeting Irish PM today

Page 1 of 1 [ 3 posts ] 

Previous topic | Next topic

Tequila
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 28,897
Location: Lancashire, UK

11 Feb 2013, 10:13 am

Quote:
Magdalenes meeting Taoiseach

A delegation from the Magdalene Survivors Together group is meeting Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Government Buildings this afternoon.

On his way into the meeting, the organisation’s head Steven O’Riordan said the purpose of the meeting was so Mr Kenny could listen to the women’s stories and “realise the significance” of delivering an apology on behalf of the State.

“The women aren’t interested in personal apologies today. A private apology doesn’t mean much to the women. They want a public apology,” he said.

Again, as I've said recently - I hope that these survivors get what they are looking for. The issue now isn't so much with the Irish people - many of the people who were nuns and other people involved in the Laundries will be dead or dying - but the Irish Government itself.



John_Browning
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,456
Location: The shooting range

11 Feb 2013, 3:06 pm

What's a Magdelene laundry?


_________________
"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars."
- Unknown

"A fear of weapons is a sign of ret*d sexual and emotional maturity."
-Sigmund Freud


Tequila
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 28,897
Location: Lancashire, UK

11 Feb 2013, 3:42 pm

John_Browning wrote:
What's a Magdelene laundry?


Basically, the "Magdalene laundries" were prison-like institutions that imprisoned women considered to be "fallen women" (i.e. prostitutes, the sexually promiscuous, women that had upset others locally, women that had been raped, women that had had children out of wedlock and other things) in Ireland from the 1800s to 1996. These institutions put the women to slave labour by making them wash and laundry towels, blankets and clothing, often for private or government firms. The nuns (and the Catholic Church) often profited from this slave labour.

Here's a little bit more about these institutions.