.....and just when you think we have reached the bottom of the barrel with our government and its sickening cronyism they strike again!
On one hand we see the government refusing to acknowledge the horrendous treatment young girls and women were subjected to while enslaved in laundries and to add insult to injury a blank denial of compensation which would enable survivors to live their remaining years with dignity and a degree of comfort. On the other hand we are witnessing undeserved rewards and pay outs to their criminal mates like Roddy Molloy .
Despite the horror and shame of our nation with the revelations of Ryan Report still fresh in our minds I am saddened to see that our so called leaders have still not learned a shred of compassion and empathy. Their mothers, wives, sisters daughters and constituents should be ashamed of them.
This issue is too important to let go. Please join us in your support by writing and lobbying every politician and journalist you know. Justice for the women of the Magdalene laundries is too important to let them sweep it away.
Magdalene Laundries Press Releases
28 Sept 2009
Justice for Magdalenes reacts to the Minister for Education, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe's expression of regret for any offense caused in referring to survivors as the "former employees" of Ireland's Magdalene laundries.
In a letter to Mr. Tom Kitt, TD, dated 23 September 2009, the Minister for Education expressed "deep regret" for earlier referring to women who worked in the Magdalene Laundries as "former employees." His brief letter concluded, "I fully acknowledge that the word 'workers' would have been more appropriate." A copy of Mr. O'Keeffe's letter is attached to this press release.
Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) acknowledges the Minister's expression of regret. However, JFM also asserts that the substitution of one word for another—namely "workers" for "employees"—does not materially alter the content nor the intent of the Minister for Education's original letter to Deputy Kitt (dated 4 September 2009) in which he rejected calls for a distinct redress scheme for survivors of the laundries institutions. Moreover, JFM directs the Minister to the State's Constitutional obligation to protect "workers," in particular very young "workers," from abuse and exploitation:
The State shall endeavour to ensure that the strength and health of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children shall not be abused and that citizens shall not be forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their sex, age or strength (Article 45, sec. 4, sub. 2).
JFM also announces that it has written to An Taoiseach, Mr. Brian Cowen, TD, in light of the State's rejection of our calls for a distinct redress scheme for Magdalene survivors. Our letter requests that the Taoiseach's office coordinate a formal response from a number of government departments that we assert were complicit in referring women and children to the Magdalene institutions. JFM anticipates that Mr. Tom Kitt, TD, will table a Parliamentary Party question concerning the evidence put forth in our letter in the coming week. A copy of our letter is attached to this press release.
Justice for Magdalenes again challenge the State to respond formally to our letter, to offer a meaningful apology to survivors, and to introduce legislation that establishes a distinct redress scheme for the victims and survivors of Ireland's Magdalene laundries.
[END]
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