Magdalene Laundries - The True Story

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Magdalene Laundries
Liberate Grace Reveals the Dark Side of Ireland
The True Story of the Scandals and Abuses of the Irish Governments
perpetrated against the Young Women of the Magdalene Laundries and the
Mother and Baby Homes from 1765 to 2024.
www.liberategrace.com 12/13/23

The True Story of the Scandals andAbuses of the Irish Governments
perpetrated against the Young Women of the Magdalene Laundries and
the Mother and Baby Homes from 1765 to 2024.
© Liberate Grace 2024
License Terms BY-NC-ND
Page 1 of 13
Exterior of the “Magdalene Laundries” (Casa Magdalena) in Dublin closed at the end of 1996
(Photo credits: www.liberategrace.com)
The Magdalene Laundries, a dark chapter in the history of Ireland, represent a
shadow that extends for over two centuries. Often, the information published
about them is incomplete or contradictory, or it lacks reliable sources, which
provides the reader with a distorted view of what really happened.
In fact, in Ireland until the end of 1996, girls or young women who were sexually
abused could be incarcerated for life in the Magdalene Laundries by the Irish
authorities [1].
These institutions were founded as charitable works by members of the Irish
nobility and subsequently came under the aegis of the Irish government, which
delegated their daily operations to third-party associations.

Page 2 of 13
The first Magdalene House was founded in Dublin in 1765 by Lady Arabella
Denny [2], an Anglican philanthropist and daughter of Count Thomas
FitzMaurice, who in turn was the nephew of Baron William FitzMaurice [3].
The conditions inside these laundries were of unimaginable cruelty. It is not
possible to quantify the exact number of girls and young women confined in
these structures. From the available archives, it appears that at least several
tens of thousands of them were arrested under Irish law and then transferred
by the authorities to the Magdalene Laundries, where they were subjected to
forced silence, incessant surveillance, and emotional and physical abuses of
unheard-of severity. Very often these women were guilty only of having been
raped, of being unmarried mothers, or of being prostitutes. Sometimes they
were women convicted of minor crimes, such as petty theft, and only rarely
also for serious crimes such as infanticide [4].
Young girls in a “Magdalene Laundries” in Ireland at the beginning of the twentieth century
(Photo credits: Public Domain)
In 2013, an investigation led by Irish Senator Martin McAleese, officially known
as the “Report of the Interdepartmental Committee to Establish the Facts of the
State’s Involvement with the Magdalene Laundries”, revealed that the Irish
government and the state police force, “Garda”, bore significant responsibility
for sending women to the Magdalene Laundries and failing to protect their

Page 3 of 13
rights as workers. From this investigation, it appears that the laundries were
not private structures (this means that they were public by law, therefore owned
by the Irish State, Ed.), and the vast majority of girls and young women were
sent there against their will [5].
In 1921 the “Bethany House for Mother and Child” was founded, also known
more simply as Bethany House. This house, subject to inspections by the
Ministry for Housing, Local Authorities and Heritage, was known to the Irish
judicial system as a place of detention for Protestant women [6][7]. In the
1950s, Bethany House facilitated the adoption of children by Protestant
families in the United States, and others were transferred to England; some of
the latter were subsequently sent to Australia [8].
The facility was closed between 1971 and 1972. In 2011, the surviving
residents requested to be included in the investigation led by Senator Martin
McAleese on the State’s involvement in the case of the Magdalene Laundries,
as similarities were highlighted between the two institutions and the needs of
the survivors. In June 2011, the then Irish Minister of Education, Ruairi Quinn,
announced the Irish government’s refusal to include Bethany House in the
McAleese investigation. The then Deputy Minister, at the Ministry of Health,
Kathleen Lynch was expelled from the Irish Parliament while trying to raise the
issue of the survivors of Bethany House with the then minister of the center-
right party Fianna Fáil [9].
In 2021, Dr Michael Jackson and John McDowell, the Anglican Archbishops of
Dublin and Armagh respectively, officially apologized on behalf of the Anglican
Church of Ireland for the role it played in shaping the society that led to austere
institutions like the Magdalene Laundries and the Mother and Baby Homes.
The Archbishops recalled that the Mother and Baby Homes housed young
women and girls who became pregnant out of wedlock until a few decades ago,
and although operating under the “Protestant Ethos”, their management had
no connection with the Anglican Church of Ireland. Finally, they added: “We
must all be ashamed of the climate that has driven so many women and
children towards these facilities” [10].

Page 4 of 13
“Bethany Mother and Baby Home” in Dublin, Ireland, European Union
The words of the Catholic Archbishop, Mons. Eamon Martin, in 2021 were
much stronger. The Archbishop, after expressing his regret and asking
forgiveness from the survivors of the Mother and Baby Homes and the
Magdalene Laundries, recalled that the terrifying events that occurred in these
structures must push Ireland to undertake “the journey towards healing and
repair”, adding that “No mother or child today should feel unwelcome,
unwanted or unloved. No father today should shirk his responsibilities. No
priest, bishop, nun or lay member of the Church today should deny the mercy
and forgiveness of Jesus. No family today should avoid their own child to
protect a misguided notion of ‘respectability’ in the parish community. We still
have much to learn and much work to do”. Mons. Eamon Martin concludes by
saying that the investigation still leaves “room for further investigations” and
encourages all the heads of the Churches and the Irish State to “extend their
full cooperation”, so that “those who have been most affected can be helped to
find hope and peace for the future” [11].

Page 5 of 13
“Bessborough Mother and Baby Home”, Ireland, European Union
The Mother and Baby Homes and the Magdalene Laundries served as a
source for adoptions. In fact, human trafficking by the Irish government to
facilitate adoptions does not seem to have been an isolated case. Between
1940 and 1970, the trafficking of minors involved at least 2,000 children who
were torn from the arms of their mothers to be trafficked mainly to the United
States of America. According to a recent report corroborated by strong
evidence, arbitrary detention, forced labour, coercive and illegal adoption, and
inhuman and degrading treatment occurred systematically throughout the
network of institutions and government agencies that were supposed to take
care of unmarried families. The co-director of the report, Claire McGettrick,
stated that the documents held by the Irish State are still secret and therefore
inaccessible [12].
These abuses continued unabated from the establishment of the “Free State
of Ireland” in 1922 until the end of the 20th century, with the approval of all
subsequent Irish governments. It is paradoxical to talk about the “Free State of
Ireland” when tens of thousands of girls and young women lived in a real state
of slavery. The girls and young women were imprisoned and were forced to

Page 6 of 13
work for free mainly in the laundries, as these institutions had to be self-
sufficient by generating profits; probably also for those who had personal
interests in the existence of these structures.
St Mary’s Domestic Training Centre, Stanhope Street in Dublin, Ireland, European Union
The conditions inside these “laundries” were in all respects comparable to
those of prisons, and confinement often involved various coercive measures.
If a woman managed to escape from one of these institutions, she was sought,
captured, and re-incarcerated in the Magdalene Laundries by the Irish police
“Garda” [13].
In 2013, despite ongoing pressure from public opinion, Enda Kenny, the
“Taoiseach” and head of the Irish government at the time, did not present a
complete formal apology. Instead, he merely expressed a timid “regret” for the
stigma associated with the girls and young women who were incarcerated in
the Magdalene Laundries [14].
Subsequently, a compensation program for surviving victims was established.
In 2020, however, the Irish press reports that only a minority of victims have
received the due compensation, albeit very modest. The recent average

Page 7 of 13
compensation theoretically recognized by the Irish government would amount
to about 36 thousand euros for each surviving victim [15][16].
The actions of the Irish government demonstrate that the life of a human being,
particularly a girl or young woman, is valued at only a few thousand euros and
does not warrant any further rights or protection. Conversely, in the “Free State
of Ireland” the private profit of multinationals receives due protection. For
example, the Irish government allows Apple to pay only 0.005% of taxes [17],
fifty euros for every million in turnover [18], or guarantees The Coca-Cola
Company to pay only 1.4% (one point four percent) of taxes [19][20].
This tax haven approach is applied to sales made throughout the European
Union market. Therefore, Irish politicians not only subtract resources from their
fellow citizens but cause serious harm to all Member States of the European
Union and their citizens and/or residents. Ireland: a true paradise for profit but
a real hell for the female gender.
To date, the cabinet of the “Emerald Isle” has not yet fully recognized its
responsibilities in these abuses perpetrated against tens of thousands of
women. In fact, the Irish government has never compensated all the surviving
victims of the Magdalene Laundries and the Mother and Baby Homes.
Public opinion has long erroneously attributed the responsibility for these
horrors solely to the management of these structures by religious orders. No
religious order was in charge of managing the Magdalene Laundries for 158
years, from 1765 to 1922. Only after 1922 did the Irish government manage
the operations of the Magdalene Laundries in collaboration with four religious
orders [21]:
1. The Sisters of Mercy, order founded by the Irish Catherine Elizabeth
McAuley [22]
2. Soeurs de la Charité de Notre Dame d'Evron, order founded by the
French Perrine Brunet [23]
3. Sisters of Charity, order founded by the Irish Mary Aikenhead [24]
4. Sisters of the Good Shepherd, order founded by the French Mary
Euphrasia Pelletier [25]

Page 8 of 13
In 2017, the United Nations criticized the Irish government for not implementing
the recommendations communicated to it and related to investigations into
allegations of mistreatment and abuse suffered by women incarcerated in the
Magdalene Laundries. The United Nations Committee against Torture strongly
criticizes the government for not having prosecuted those responsible and for
not having ensured that the victims had an effective right to compensation [26].
It is difficult to think that an institution as well-known as the Magdalene
Laundries could operate on the territory of the Republic of Ireland without any
control by the government authorities: it is not credible.
The Irish governments have always declined any responsibility regarding the
Magdalene Laundries, claiming that these structures were privately managed
by the nuns, the only ones responsible for the events inside the structures, and
that the government had no involvement. What emerged not only exposes the
Irish government, but could have permanently tarnished its reputation and
authority in the eyes of the international community [27].
In fact, the claims of the Irish governments were refuted by the investigation of
Senator McAleese. The report that emerged, in addition to revealing a
significant and continuous involvement of the Irish State, concludes that there
were no physical or sexual abuses committed by the nuns, and no evidence
emerged relating to the other charges attributed to them [28].
The recent law passed by parliament in 2020, which many consider shameful
and harmful, further corroborates the hypothesis that the Irish government still
has much, perhaps too much, to hide. This law, which many consider shameful
and harmful, seals for a further 30 years the records relating to the abuses
committed by Irish institutions on the girls and young women incarcerated in
the Magdalene Laundries [29].
It’s worth noting that this law, passed by the Irish parliament, is in full violation
of not only international law and human rights, but also European law and
regulations, such as the General Regulation on Data Protection (GDPR) [30],
which the Irish government is obliged to obey. It should also be remembered
that the European Commission or the other Member States can bring the Irish
government before the Court of Justice of the European Union for not having
applied European Union law [31]. It may not be long before we see the Irish

Page 9 of 13
government condemned once again for violation of human and fundamental
rights of the European Union.
In 2021, Dr. Maeve O’Rourke, from the Irish Center for Human Rights,
requested access to the archives of the Magdalena House located in the town
of Donnybrook in Dublin. This legitimate request for access to the archives
made by Dr O’Rourke, although it is provided for by FOI-FOIA and GDPR
regulations [32][33], was refused on the basis of a mere easily surmountable
pretext [34].
As if that were not enough, in 2022, the Irish government continued to surprise
many with its behavior, which is considered recidivist in terms of human rights
violations. According to the site “NOYB - European Center for Digital Rights”
with a last-minute amendment to the law “Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Bill 2022”, the Irish government added a provision that would allow
the Irish Commissioner for Data Protection to declare almost all of his
procedures “confidential”. In fact, the “Section 26A” of the Irish law would make
most of the reports, by European citizens, on procedures or decisions of the
Irish Commissioner for Data Protection a crime. So simply talking about unfair
procedures that often affect millions of people would become a crime, even
when the Irish Commissioner for Data Protection, the government or
multinationals based in Ireland, which process the data of European citizens,
adopt extreme positions or act illegally [35].
The “Section 26A” of the law could be used by the Irish Commissioner for Data
Protection to prohibit the sharing of documents with other whistleblowers, other
regulators or even European authorities such as the European Committee for
Data Protection (EDPB).
Should the surviving women of the Magdalene Laundries remain dissatisfied
with the complaint procedure following a refusal of access to their data, they
could face criminal sanctions if they expressed public criticism. The mere threat
of a criminal sanction will undoubtedly silence most people who will thus be
deprived of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the European Union [36].
We must never forget the horrors that the young women and their children
experienced in the Magdalene Laundries and the Mother and Baby Homes.
The perpetrators can only be forgiven by the victims of those atrocities. But

Page 10 of 13
who, we must ask, were the perpetrators of these abuses? Were they the
families who deprived their mothers, sisters, and daughters of love and
disowned them? Were they perhaps the governments that made laws to
incriminate and exploit them? Were they instead the Irish police forces that
incarcerated them and abused them with force and violated their dignity as
human beings? Or was it the Archbishop of Dublin who forgot to honour the
Word of God every day according to his Pastoral principles?
Although the only responsible party with the authority to determine the fate of
the women incarcerated in the Magdalene Laundries remains the Irish
government, the concurrence of guilt involves all the actors listed above. The
violence and contempt to which these women were subjected was the failure
of human society as a whole, unfortunately still permeated by pride and sloth.
It is difficult to understand why in almost three centuries the conduct of the Irish
government has always been disrespectful of the dignity of these women and
their children.
Children awaiting adoption sent to the Nidgee orphanage in Australia in 1928

Page 11 of 13
The girls and young girls of the past and the only survivors of today, now elderly,
have been denied any recognition, not only material but also moral.
European politicians and the vast majority of European public opinion believe
that the horror of the Magdalene Laundries and the lack of compensation, as
established by the High Court, by the Irish government towards these violated
women, deserves to be brought to trial before the Court of Justice of the
European Union in order to reach a definitive resolution that can give them a
bit of peace and serenity. They deserve the peace and serenity that society has
denied them for so long.
In 2024, after over 250 years of abuses, European civil society has the moral
right, as well as the duty, to remedy this failure of the Irish governments. It is
essential that an immediate repair, both moral and economic, is forcefully
demanded, without further procrastination. We conclude by remembering that
the Magdalene Laundries were institutions sponsored by the Irish State where
women were incarcerated and forced to work without being paid. Their crimes?
Some had been sexually abused, others had been raped, others still were
locked up because they had a reputation considered immoral by the State and
society of the time [37]. As the famous Italian journalist Antonio Lubrano used
to say: “The question arises spontaneously” who really committed the crimes?
The Irish governments have repeatedly demonstrated their desire to obtain all
possible benefits from the European Union while disregarding its rules and the
fundamental rights of citizens. But the “Free State of Ireland” can never be
either free or a State until it respects the women who have contributed, with
their sacrifice, to its birth.
Sources
[1]https://www.family-tree.co.uk/news/last-magdalene-asylum-closes-on-this-day-in-history/
[2]https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magdalene-laundry
[3]https://landedestates.ie/family/1887
[4]https://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/jun2011/bethany_home_and_state_nm_for_min_24may11.pdf
[5]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/05/magdalene-laundries-ireland-state-guilt
[6]https://web.archive.org/web/20190313060058/http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/press/JFM%20PR%2024-06-11.pdf
[7]https://www.historyireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Bethany_HI_expanded__plus_mag_ver_Sep-Oct2010_.pdf
[8]https://www.historyireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Bethany_HI_expanded__plus_mag_ver_Sep-Oct2010_.pdf
[9]https://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0622/302705-bethany/
[10]https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-55675544

Page 12 of 13
[11]https://www.agensir.it/quotidiano/2021/1/27/irlanda-del-nord-rapporto-su-mother-and-baby-homes-and-magdalene-laundries-mons-
martin-vescovi-irlandesi-chiedo-perdono-ai-sopravvissuti/
[12]https://www.irishpost.com/news/heartbreaking-report-reveals-2000-irish-children-sold-us-adoption-mother-baby-homes-160891
[13]https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/bitstream/handle/10379/15636/O_Rourke_M_and_Smith_J_M_Ireland_s_Magda.pdf
[14]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/05/ireland-magdalene-laundry-system-apology
[15]https://www.independent.ie/news/36000-euro-for-magdalene-survivors/30430343.html
[16]https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/magdalene-survivors-insist-state-not-fulfilling-terms-of-
compensation-scheme-1.4288657
[17]https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/30/how-apples-irish-subsidiaries-paid-a-0005-percent-tax-rate-in-2014.html
[18]https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/apple-paid-just-50-tax-8733883
[19]https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/how-did-coca-cola-pay-a-tax-rate-of-just-1-4-in-ireland-1.4432940
[20]https://www.irishtimes.com/business/manufacturing/coca-cola-paid-tax-on-1-4-on-irish-profits-of-up-to-2-5bn-us-court-1.4414091
[21]https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magdalene-laundry
[22]https://sistersofmercy.ie/catherine-mcauley/
[23]https://www.soeurs-charite-evron.com/histoire.php
[24]https://rsccaritas.com/who-we-are/mary-aikenhead/
[25]https://rgs.gssweb.org/
[26]https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/un-criticises-government-for-not-investigating-magdalene-laundries/36022766.html
[27]https://www.rte.ie/culture/2021/1108/1256715-review-ireland-the-magdalene-laundries-a-campaign-for-justice/
[28]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/05/ireland-magdalene-laundry-system-apology
[29]https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/sealing-the-records-of-irish-institutional-abuse/
[30]https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/sealing-the-records-of-irish-institutional-abuse/
[31]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/infringement-of-eu-law.html
[32]http://www.foia.gov.it/
[33]https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/dealing-with-customers/data-protection/data-protection-gdpr/index_it.htm
[34]https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/03/04/state-accused-of-stonewalling-and-hiding-evidence-over-magdalene-laundries/
[35]https://noyb.eu/en/irish-gov-makes-critizising-big-tech-and-irish-dpc-crime
[36]https://noyb.eu/en/ireland-corrupt-gdpr-procedures-now-confidential
[37] https://www.bigissue.com/culture/tv/the-woman-in-the-wall-what-is-the-true-story-of-irelands-magdalene-laundries/

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