Manic Impressive
6th February 2013, 19:40
What were the Magdalene Laundries?
Institutions where women were sent if they were regarded as "fallen women".
Who was sent there?
The women who were committed to these homes included women who conceived out of wed lock, wards of state and so-called 'promiscuous and flirtatious' women. Parents, social workers, judges, priests and members of the Gardai (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Garda_Siochana) could recommend a woman to be sent to these workhouses.
How many women were sent to the laundries?
No known figures as records were not kept, but an estimated 30,000.
How many children were adopted from the laundries?
Again, this is unclear but it is believed over 2,000 children 'exported' from the laundries to new homes, mainly to wealthy families in the US, usually for a payment from the families.
Senator Martin McAleese's report confirms what many of us knew already. Thousands of girls and women were placed in Magdalene Laundries throughout the country. Robbed of their liberty, dignity and forced to work in harsh conditions, in many ways they were denied basic human rights.
The most important fact uncovered in this report is that it finally sheds light on how the Irish State played a direct role in forcing children and women into these laundries, finding that 26.5pc of referrals were made by people acting in an official capacity.
These girls and women were sent there by the courts because of prison overcrowding. Some were sent 'under supervision' after spending time in industrial schools. Others were sent there by health authorities when foster care placements broke down or when children were simply homeless.
Once again the report forces us to ask questions about Irish society and the complicit role that we played. It reveals that many children were placed there by their families because of a physical or intellectual disability (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Developmental_Disorders), while others were forced into the laundries for basic discipline or for breaking social mores.
Records reveal how "a girl was placed in a Magdalene Laundry in the 1950s by her sister 'as she would not do anything she was told'. She was taken out of the institution by her sister over a year later."
Another states that: "An 18-year-old woman was brought here by her father" to a Magdalene Laundry in the 1950s. It is recorded that she was "keeping suspicious company, late home". Her mother had "abandoned family" and left the country.
After around 10 months, she was "taken home by her father". How can a family dispute or a failure of parent control warrant incarceration? And shouldn't the State prevent such abuse?
Shamefully, up until now the State has been unwilling to accept responsibility for the role it played. Since 2009, ministers and representatives in response to Magdalene survivors have claimed the State had no responsibility for these institutions because they were privately owned and run. The Irish Government, before the UN Committee Against Torture in 2011, even went as far as saying that the vast (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/VAST_%28musician%29) majority of the women were in these laundries voluntarily or with family consent.
There are limitations to the report. It does not assess how the rights of children and women in these institutions were violated. Much is being made of the fact that the regime wasn't that harsh in comparison to the industrial schools. However, many of the girls and women in the laundries did not know why they were there and were prevented from leaving. Children as young as 13 years old were effectively forced into servitude. We would call this child labour today.
Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor – 06 February 2013
WOMEN were sent to Magdalene Laundries for petty crimes, such as failing to buy a train ticket and snatching purses. Others were detained for more serious crimes, such as prostitution, manslaughter, murder and killing babies they had recently given birth to.
One woman who was convicted of stealing a bike and attempting suicide was detained for a year, according to the report.
The vast majority of those who entered laundries through the criminal-justice system were put there on foot of minor crimes.
The most common entry method for girls admitted to laundries was on foot of probation orders requiring them to be resident for up to three years.
The report reveals that "runaways, vagrants" and "stranded" girls and women were also referred informally or on an ad hoc basis to Magdalene Laundries by gardai where they stayed for short periods.
Many women were placed informally in laundries by gardai or the courts without any specific legal basis or under practices that predated the establishment of the State.
Gardai (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Garda_Siochana)
Girls and young women referred or sent via the criminal justice system accounted for an estimated 8.1pc of known routes of entry.
Girls and young women who had previously been in industrial or reformatory schools could also be "recalled" and arrested without warrant by the gardai and placed in laundries.
Referrals from industrial and reformatory schools make up a total of 622 cases, or 7.8pc of known entries.
The report reveals the dependency of the State on the church and other bodies who provided voluntary services.
The State approached organisations such as the Legion of Mary to ask them to perform the role of Voluntary Probation Officers (VPOs) before the country established a professional probation service in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Maureen Sullivan is the youngest known survivor admitted to one of the Magdalene laundries.
She was an innocent 12-year-old child when taken from her school in Co Carlow and put in the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry in New Ross, Co Wexford, because her father died and mother remarried.
Ms Sullivan said she was told that this place would further her education, but she never saw her schoolbooks again.
For 48 years she had been haunted by memories of a lost childhood and slave labour and is demanding a full apology from the Government and religious orders for stealing her education, name, identity and life.
"I feel that they are still in denial, but other parts of this report clearly state that we were telling the truth," she said.
By day she worked in the laundry, was fed bread and dripping, and then made Aran sweaters or rosary beads before going to bed at night in St Aidan's Industrial School.
"It was long, hard tedious work and because I was small they made a timber box," said the 60-year-old.
"I remember being hidden in a tunnel when the school inspectors came.
I can only assume that this was due to the fact that I should not have been working in the laundry."
Even at the weekends, the youngster was forced to clean the floors of the local church when she should have been out playing, enjoying life and meeting other children.
Many more articles here http://www.independent.ie/search/?search=magdalene+laundry&fromSection=404&page=4
Institutions where women were sent if they were regarded as "fallen women".
Who was sent there?
The women who were committed to these homes included women who conceived out of wed lock, wards of state and so-called 'promiscuous and flirtatious' women. Parents, social workers, judges, priests and members of the Gardai (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Garda_Siochana) could recommend a woman to be sent to these workhouses.
How many women were sent to the laundries?
No known figures as records were not kept, but an estimated 30,000.
How many children were adopted from the laundries?
Again, this is unclear but it is believed over 2,000 children 'exported' from the laundries to new homes, mainly to wealthy families in the US, usually for a payment from the families.
Senator Martin McAleese's report confirms what many of us knew already. Thousands of girls and women were placed in Magdalene Laundries throughout the country. Robbed of their liberty, dignity and forced to work in harsh conditions, in many ways they were denied basic human rights.
The most important fact uncovered in this report is that it finally sheds light on how the Irish State played a direct role in forcing children and women into these laundries, finding that 26.5pc of referrals were made by people acting in an official capacity.
These girls and women were sent there by the courts because of prison overcrowding. Some were sent 'under supervision' after spending time in industrial schools. Others were sent there by health authorities when foster care placements broke down or when children were simply homeless.
Once again the report forces us to ask questions about Irish society and the complicit role that we played. It reveals that many children were placed there by their families because of a physical or intellectual disability (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Developmental_Disorders), while others were forced into the laundries for basic discipline or for breaking social mores.
Records reveal how "a girl was placed in a Magdalene Laundry in the 1950s by her sister 'as she would not do anything she was told'. She was taken out of the institution by her sister over a year later."
Another states that: "An 18-year-old woman was brought here by her father" to a Magdalene Laundry in the 1950s. It is recorded that she was "keeping suspicious company, late home". Her mother had "abandoned family" and left the country.
After around 10 months, she was "taken home by her father". How can a family dispute or a failure of parent control warrant incarceration? And shouldn't the State prevent such abuse?
Shamefully, up until now the State has been unwilling to accept responsibility for the role it played. Since 2009, ministers and representatives in response to Magdalene survivors have claimed the State had no responsibility for these institutions because they were privately owned and run. The Irish Government, before the UN Committee Against Torture in 2011, even went as far as saying that the vast (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/VAST_%28musician%29) majority of the women were in these laundries voluntarily or with family consent.
There are limitations to the report. It does not assess how the rights of children and women in these institutions were violated. Much is being made of the fact that the regime wasn't that harsh in comparison to the industrial schools. However, many of the girls and women in the laundries did not know why they were there and were prevented from leaving. Children as young as 13 years old were effectively forced into servitude. We would call this child labour today.
Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor – 06 February 2013
WOMEN were sent to Magdalene Laundries for petty crimes, such as failing to buy a train ticket and snatching purses. Others were detained for more serious crimes, such as prostitution, manslaughter, murder and killing babies they had recently given birth to.
One woman who was convicted of stealing a bike and attempting suicide was detained for a year, according to the report.
The vast majority of those who entered laundries through the criminal-justice system were put there on foot of minor crimes.
The most common entry method for girls admitted to laundries was on foot of probation orders requiring them to be resident for up to three years.
The report reveals that "runaways, vagrants" and "stranded" girls and women were also referred informally or on an ad hoc basis to Magdalene Laundries by gardai where they stayed for short periods.
Many women were placed informally in laundries by gardai or the courts without any specific legal basis or under practices that predated the establishment of the State.
Gardai (http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Garda_Siochana)
Girls and young women referred or sent via the criminal justice system accounted for an estimated 8.1pc of known routes of entry.
Girls and young women who had previously been in industrial or reformatory schools could also be "recalled" and arrested without warrant by the gardai and placed in laundries.
Referrals from industrial and reformatory schools make up a total of 622 cases, or 7.8pc of known entries.
The report reveals the dependency of the State on the church and other bodies who provided voluntary services.
The State approached organisations such as the Legion of Mary to ask them to perform the role of Voluntary Probation Officers (VPOs) before the country established a professional probation service in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Maureen Sullivan is the youngest known survivor admitted to one of the Magdalene laundries.
She was an innocent 12-year-old child when taken from her school in Co Carlow and put in the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry in New Ross, Co Wexford, because her father died and mother remarried.
Ms Sullivan said she was told that this place would further her education, but she never saw her schoolbooks again.
For 48 years she had been haunted by memories of a lost childhood and slave labour and is demanding a full apology from the Government and religious orders for stealing her education, name, identity and life.
"I feel that they are still in denial, but other parts of this report clearly state that we were telling the truth," she said.
By day she worked in the laundry, was fed bread and dripping, and then made Aran sweaters or rosary beads before going to bed at night in St Aidan's Industrial School.
"It was long, hard tedious work and because I was small they made a timber box," said the 60-year-old.
"I remember being hidden in a tunnel when the school inspectors came.
I can only assume that this was due to the fact that I should not have been working in the laundry."
Even at the weekends, the youngster was forced to clean the floors of the local church when she should have been out playing, enjoying life and meeting other children.
Many more articles here http://www.independent.ie/search/?search=magdalene+laundry&fromSection=404&page=4