The state of Ireland has admitted its complicity in sending women and children to Magdalene Laundries to keep them in virtual enslavement. However, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has still not issued a formal apology.
We call on Kenny to (i) offer an official apology to and (ii) establish a distinct redress scheme for victims and survivors of these abusive institutions. We also have a direct e-mail form which can be sent to An Taoiseach at
http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/an_taoiseach.htm.
Dear Taoiseach,
Now that the State has acknowledged its complicity in sending women and children to Magdalene laundries, we urge you to (i) offer an official apology to and (ii) establish a distinct redress scheme for victims and survivors of these abusive institutions.
You and your government should be focused on providing justice for women and children denied their constitutional rights. Do you believe that the State, and in particular the Department of Education, did not have a moral and Constitutional obligation to protect every child from the exploitative work conditions in the laundry institutions?
We urge you to pursue the cause for justice for these women and children, to cease trying to pass the burden solely on the religious orders that ran these institutions, and to exert the utmost pressure on those same orders to also find, as Cardinal Sean Brady himself promised, a 'just solution' for these citizens, whose rights were so grievously violated.
To do less brings shame on yourself, Ireland's government and the nation as a whole.
