BackIOI President and Irish Ombudsman Peter Tyndall welcomed the Minister for Justice and Equality’s announcement that it will move forward on implementing the recommendations following the investigation into how the Department of Justice and Equality administered the Magdalen Restorative Justice scheme.
The report of his investigation, Opportunity Lost, was critical of how the Department administered the scheme, including how some women who worked in the Magdalen laundries have been wrongly refused access to the scheme.
Commenting on today’s announcement Ombudsman Peter Tyndall said:
“This is a significant step forward for the women who were so badly treated when in the Magdalen laundries. Since the publication of the report we have had positive discussions with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice and Equality. I am grateful to them for their intervention. However, it is now essential that there is an early and full outcome and that the women do not face further unnecessary delay”.
Approximately 10,000 women are known to have entered a Magdalen Laundry from the foundation of the Irish State in 1922 until the closure of the last Laundry in 1996. Entrants to Magdalen laundries worked without pay (other than food and lodgings) under conditions that would be considered by any standards to be harsh. In 2013 the Irish Government apologised to the women on behalf of the Irish State and set up a restorative justice scheme for them.
The investigation by the Ombudsman found that some women who worked in the Magdalen laundries have been wrongly refused access to the Magdalen Restorative Justice scheme.
The full report ‘Opportunity Lost’ can be read here.
Source: Ombudsman of Ireland
