Statement on Magdalen Laundries 26th February 2013

Like other speakers, I am glad to have an opportunity to speak in this debate. It is interesting and ironic that we visit once again our dark past and the secrets with which our society lived. One ponders whether we still have secrets that we as a society have not necessarily addressed. It is always better to address issues of this nature at the time they emerge rather than in retrospect, which is what we are doing now.

 As others have done, I congratulate the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade on their excellent and poignant speeches on this matter just a week ago. Their speeches served to address in some small way and publicly highlight the issues that affected a number of women who were in the Magdalen laundries over the years. Some of them were sent there as children by institutions of the State and others by their relatives. Some even went voluntarily with the high hope that they would have an improved standard of living, education and safety. Can one imagine how frightened these children were when they were not in a position to determine what the future held for them and they were in someone else’s custody? Kids by their nature are caring and trusting. They trust those around them to provide for, care for and look after them. Unfortunately, this did not happen as it should have happened in the Magdalen laundries. It did not happen because no one seemed to care, not even the institutions of the State or the parents who sent them there or society, which must have known what was happening in those laundries. How often have we spoken in retrospect of many other similar occurrences in other institutions when no one listened at the time? If there is one lesson we can learn from these debates, it is the need to address the issues that could cause problems in the future there and then in the present. If we could do that, we will have learned a great lesson and served society well.

 Those women from the Magdalen laundries who so valiantly stood, worked, suffered and worried together over the years have done a great job in bringing to our attention the need to make absolutely certain that such occurrences are not allowed to happen again. We had a peculiar society. We may still have one, as there may be issues today that will be viewed differently in the future. It is very important that those institutions of the State which have a responsibility in any issue affecting men, women or children assert themselves and address the issues for which they are charged with responsibility. Failure to do so would be a serious negation of their duty.

 I congratulate Dr. McAleese on his excellent report on the laundries. In some areas, it has been criticised for being less than sufficient. I must say it is remarkably conclusive, was delivered speedily and encompasses a significant volume of the issues affecting society at the time.

When the matter was adjourned yesterday evening I was suggesting that we must give recognition to the women who are the survivors of the Magdalen laundries. They stayed with the subject and were not put off by the fact that they were not heard or that their issue was not addressed. We owe them a great debt of gratitude for remaining with the subject and seeing out their case and cause, and doing so in a dignified way despite the fact that it was a considerable burden for them to have to bear for many years. There was an ongoing feeling of a failure to recognise their plight and a failure on the part of the system to recognise the wrongs that took place, as well as a failure of society. I raise the failure of society in particular because there seems to have been more than one failure in our society in recent years. On the one hand, we should recognise the role played by women in our society. The way in which they were treated in some circumstances is not something we should be especially proud of. The fact that this particular situation prevailed for so long with little response is a clear indication that in future we should be more receptive to queries raised by people who may well be in a minority but who have a just cause and who have suffered distress and suffered by virtue of negligence on the part of the system to recognise their plight.

 There is another lesson we should learn. This is something I referred to briefly yesterday evening. We do not know at what time in the future some other issue will turn up which may reflect poorly on our society now. One of the lessons we should learn from what has occurred in the case of the Magdalen laundries is that as time goes by we should become more alert to issues arising in our society which might fail the test of scrutiny at some stage in the future. I have no particular wish to go into the subject of child abuse, of which we have experience in recent years. However, there are times when one could be pardoned for coming to the conclusion that a certain amount of abuse of one kind or another seemed to have become acceptable. There seems to be a reluctance on the part of society and certain people, who should have known what was going on, to accept what was going on and to accept the veracity of the people who brought these matters to public attention. This includes children as well as adults. We have many lessons to learn in this regard and I hope we will learn them.

 My view, which has been expressed by many others, is that it is best that restitution be entered into now, that arrangements be made and that agreement be reached in so far as it is possible. We must try to ensure that the neglect and lack of action over many years is replaced by a positive response as well as a recognition of the particular situation that we have come to recognise now.
 

Other speakers have mentioned the Bethany Home. While the Bethany Home was not included in this report, it behoves us to investigate all similar situations of discrimination and neglect, wilful or otherwise, and address the issues arising now rather than leave them to be resurrected by future generations. I hope future generations will not have to look back and ask whether we were really alert. We should learn from our experience by ensuring these issues do not arise again. Sadly, that has not been the experience of the past 50 or 60 years. I do not refer to a particular group when I say that society has repeated these mistakes. Bias and old fashioned ideas allowed this society to ignore what we should have readily recognised. I thank the women who persisted in bringing this matter to our attention and I hope those who were affected will be adequately accommodated.