“Are you the man who wrote the Magdalen book?” A voice, hesitant and frail, asked from the other end of my office phone. “I just finished it. I read about ten pages a day.” She called to share her story. She wanted someone to listen. She needed someone to understand.
Her mother died when she was seven. Initially, she and a younger sister were cared for within the extended family. The farm required her father’s attention. At fourteen, he deposited her with the Good Shepherd nuns in New Ross. Her sister was sent to the congregation’s Limerick convent.
The Good Shepherd Sisters managed industrial schools at both these locations. They also operated a reformatory school for girls in Limerick. But the two teenage sisters would live and work with the adult women in the Magdalen laundry. They remained enslaved, unpaid for their labor, for almost five years.
The Ryan Report evades this woman’s experience of childhood abuse. She was disappeared directly into the Magdalen laundry. There was no judge. No “cruelty man.” No committal order. She never was a ward of state. She was just dumped. Consequently, she exists in a legal limbo.
The Residential Institutions Redress Board ignores her experience of childhood abuse. The Dublin-based lawyers responded to her queries. She insisted she was a Magdalen and was never in the industrial school. They told her there was little they could do. The advocacy group “Justice for Magdalenes” helped petition the Redress Board on her behalf. Again, her case was not taken up. Her childhood abuse didn’t fit the legal parameters.
The recently published Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse tells a horrendous story. Irish society responds with anger, a sense of betrayal, and oft-stated disbelief. It seems intent on holding the religious congregations accountable. The government now accepts the report’s major recommendations. The Dáil passed an all-party motion pledging to cherish all the children of the state equally.
But what about those victims and survivors of institutional abuse not addressed by the report? What about Ireland’s Magdalen women and their families? Now is precisely the juncture that Irish society—state, Church, religious congregations, families, and local communities—should confront head-on the abuse of thousands of women in Ireland’s Magdalen laundries.
The Magdalen laundries were excluded from the Residential Institutions Redress legislation. They were deemed private, charitable institutions. Women, the state asserted, voluntarily committed themselves seeking asylum. The four religious congregations involved in operating Ireland’s laundries—the Good Shepherds, Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge, Mercy Sisters—all gave testimony before the Commission’s confidential committee. But, they only addressed their management of industrial and reformatory schools.
Magdalen survivors were not invited to appear before the confidential committee. The Commission, of course, was charged with inquiring into child abuse. Magdalens were, in the main, women not children. And, age continues to inform the state’s rationale for disqualifying survivors’ claims for redress. So too, however, does the question of liability. Unlike the industrial and reformatory schools system, the government disclaims any function in licensing or inspecting the laundries. It purports never to have funded them directly.
But the state always relied on the availability of the Magdalen laundries to conceal “problem women.” It continually facilitated the transfer of women into the nuns’ care. It helped make possible a labor force through court referrals. It apportioned lucrative contracts for state institutional laundry (e.g., hospitals, military, etc.). After 1960, it provided the nuns with capitation grants for women on remand from the courts.
The state always ignored the flagrant disregard for the women’s civil and constitutional rights: false imprisonment; the absence of due process; exploitative and dangerous work practices; the denial of educational and human developmental resources; as well as emotional, physical and, in some cases, sexual abuse. The department of justice never regulated institutions routinely used by members of the judiciary to incarcerate Irish citizens.
Ireland’s Magdalen survivors are denied a distinct redress and reparations scheme despite the state’s culpability, complicity, and collusion in these abusive institutions. And no one in Ireland—not the religious congregations, not the Hierarchy, not the state—has apologized to the Magdalen communities.
The Residential Institutions Redress Act (2002) did include, but only as an afterthought, young girls illegally transferred from industrial and reformatory schools to Magdalen laundries. Many of these “preventative” cases, as they were called, rejoined society in their early twenties. Some have sought the redress they were entitled to. Others decided to remain in the sheltered environs of the convent all their lives. What about these women’s lost childhoods? What about the abuse they suffered?
And what about the young children disappeared directly into Magdalen institutions, like the woman who picked up the phone to call me? What about her sister? What about the others? The Kennedy Report (1970) documents some “617 children … resident in ‘Voluntary Homes which have not applied for approval.'” We are left to guess how many of this number lost their childhoods in Magdalen Laundries?
And what of the larger Magdalen community of adult women? Is their experience of physical and emotional abuse somehow less worthy of acknowledgment, redress, and reparation than that of children? Is contemporary Irish society comfortable with this compartmentalization of abuse?
In places like Drumcondra, Cork, and New Ross, laundries and industrial schools stood side by side. In Limerick, a system of underground tunnels ensured both populations could attend church and then return to their separate buildings without ever seeing each other. Indeed survivor testimony speaks to mothers and children separated by walls within the one convent complex without ever knowing of the other’s whereabouts.
Is the abuse experienced by these woman and children somehow fundamentally different? Is it conceivable that nuns abused children and didn’t abuse adult women in a different part of the same institution? Or, is contemporary Irish society suggesting that the Magdalen women somehow deserved the treatment they received?
The woman who called me is a survivor of institutional child abuse. She remains scarred by her childhood experience. Elderly and alone, she is angry about the past, afraid for the future. Irish society now demands accountability for child abuse at the state’s industrial and reformatory schools. When will it do likewise for the abuse of girls and women in the nation’s Magdalen laundries?
James M. Smith is an Associate Professor in the English Department and Irish Studies Program at Boston College. He is the author of Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries and the Nation’s Architecture of Containment (Southbend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007; Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008).
my mum was in the longford laundrys from 1945 to 1948 and left her daughter there anne walsh, my mother name was mary jane walsh..she was sent to work for one of the nuns sister`looking after her children, one day she had a call saying her daughter had dies, she was three years old.. we never found out what happen to her.. my mum was always heartbroken about it, i was told about what happen at 17 years old.. could anyone help..
mum dies never knowing was happen to her child.. she was 91 and dies two years ago..
Accountant is my friend!!!
Now, now, Accountant leave our Paddy alone!
Courtesy of Jim Smith, and the officially recognised list as per his book, here are the Laundries operating in the free State post-1922:
Mercy Sisters: Galway and DunLaoghaire [there was a third in Tralee but it closed in or around 1907-8]
Sisters of Charity: Cork and Donnybrook
Sisters of the Good Shepherd: New Ross, Waterford, Cork, Limerick
Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge: High Park, Drumcondra and, an aligned branch of the same order at, Gloucester Street/Sean McDermott Street. The latter institution had merged with the Mecklenburg Street Laundry in the the first decade of the 20th century.
There has been a great amount of confusion over laundries attached to Industrial schools and true Magdalen Laundries, but there is a distinct difference. And especially in terms of the 2002 Redress act. Anyone who was abused or suffered working in a laundry attached to an industrial school would have the ability to lodge a claim under the Redress act, especially under age 22 (the new amended age limit).
Anyone consigned to an actual Magdalen Laundry (unless under the age of 22 or transferred from a listed industrial school prior to age 22) does *not* currently have the ability to claim under the original Redress act. We have just submitted a proposed separate Redress bill to the body of Dail Eireann and seem to be garnering some very positive support and comments thus far, especially from Labour.
Why the surprise? The purpose of posting is to generate debate and that’s what is happening. I seldom censor anything unless I feel it’s libellous. Yes anyone can say anything as long as it doesn’t cause offence or is blatantly designed to just “stir it up” so to speak.
Paddy, I’m surprised you just post what you get. Shure anyone can say anything then, without the facts being clear. I know 100% that their were Laundries all over Ireland. Yes Laundries. But they were not Magdalen Laundries. All Industrial Schools had their own Laundry, but they were NOT Magdalen Laundries. The Magdalen where a complete different kettle of fish……Like chalk and cheese Paddy
Hello to all, Yes there was a laundry in Longford. Researched showed up it was connected to the Industrial School and the Girls from the Industrial School went over to work in the Laundry with the older Girls..Unless i’m mistaken? Is there any way we can clarify this to be 100% sure?
Hi there. I don’t know if it was a typo I just posted what I got.
Hi Paddy
Just though I would tell you FYI
there was No Magdalen laundry in Longford, was this a typo?
The Forgotten Maggies
Paddy,
It was a pleasure talking to you on the phone and I’m sure over the hour we spoke it wasn’t nearly enough. You truly are a remarkable man, The God Squad and States of Fear quickly come to mind. I’m honoured that someone of your prestige and character has taken such interest in my film “The Forgotten Maggies “. The fact we have your support is in itself a great thing.
I know it’s later then expected but as you requested here is a slight synopsis of the Documentary/ Film, the process of how it was made and why it was done.
Synopsis:
It takes place over a period of 3 years and picks up where Peter Mullan left i.e. “The Magdalene Sisters”. We follow the lives of 4 women. Three of which who were in Magdalene Laundries at Dublin, Wexford & Longford. The other is speaking on behalf of her mom as she died within the confined walls of the Magdalene Laundry in Cork.
For each of the women it’s their first time ever speaking out for the injustice they suffered and the documentary focuses on the aspect of their lives after the institutions closed. It looks at where they went to, how they coped, the relationships they made, the struggles they faced and the insecurities they had. If I was to describe the filming process it would be best described as a Michael Moore style Film such as Sicko or Bowling for Columbine.
No Irish person has ever documented or filmed these women’s stories and it the first time ever any Irish person has produced such kind of film. I myself began this process when I was 22. I’m now 25 and the two cameramen were both 19 and 20 respectively.
Everyone who worked on the project did so, on voluntary bases. We received no funding from the local authorities, The Government or The Arts council and therefore any money we earned in our jobs went into the making of the film, such as; travel costs around Ireland & England and of course the tapes we used to film the women. We had little or no experience of making films or documentaries and we definitely had no idea of what kind of life the women had or continue to have from their experiences of being institutionalised.
It all began with this idea that the women who were in the institutions could not have rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after. Then out of the blue I decided to track one of these women down and so lead to 3 years work of dedicated. One day out of the blue I got a phone call from this woman by the name of Maureen Sullivan. After a 2 hour conversation and an explanation of her life story I realised I had a chance to change her life. For 3 years she had been trying to take her case before the Redress Board. However, the Case was dropped and Maureen was left with little or no guidance on what to do next. We pick up the Documentary here. I spent 7 months interviewing and talking to Maureen on regular bases. Then I realised if I wanted to tell this story to the world I couldn’t do it alone. I put up an advert up on the Irish Television Network website asking for voluntary assistance on making a documentary about life after the Magdalene Laundries. The response was huge and out of that stemmed a friendship with both cameramen Seamus and Gerard.
Three of us worked closely together making the documentary each trusting ones ideas, instincts and hunches. The more we filmed and met Maureen the more I began to realise that The Church and Irish Society as a whole had let her down. Then I started writing letters on her behalf to different governments and suddenly all three of us got caught up in getting this women justice. We knew she was telling the truth but how could we prove this? As we listen to her story we started to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The documentary then took on the form of, is this woman telling the truth and how do we prove this scenario? Link that together with the fact that none of us had actual experience in Law or the Irish Constitution we then had to show how difficult it is for someone like Maureen to get justice in Ireland let alone be heard or listened to. Everything Maureen said or told us we looked into, such as; does the tunnel she was hidden in really exit? Is the cleaner who supposedly saw all of this alive? Would she back up Maureen’s story? How could three lads with no experience of law or film making get 30, 000 women justice let alone one person?
Then we find ourselves over in England tracking down other women. We listen to them, their stories and see how they were affected. We come back to Ireland with a huge knowledge and understanding of what these women are looking for. We dig deeper and deeper until eventually we unearth information that goes beyond believe. We try to get Maureen back into the Redress Board, We start challenging the Government and the Church. We ask ourselves the question will Maureen finally get justice. Will The Redress Board take on her case again? Will The Church or the State apologise? Will it turn out that Maureen and the three other women made it all up? Will three lads with little or no experience in film making actually tell these women’s stories in an accurate, factual, sensitive way or will they make a situation which is sensitive, upsetting and hard worse than it was before they began?
The running time of the Documentary is 100mins. The launch is on Galway at the Town Hall Cinemobile @ 10:30am. Entrance is free and spaces are limited. It would be fantastic to have News Paper reviewers, Journalists (With a keen eye for Human Rights, and an Interest in Politics there.)
At Present we have attendance from Amnesty International, The National Women’s council of Ireland, The Irish times, The Daily Star, The Irish Examiner Labour, FG, Sinn Fein and a few Independents along with local Councillors will be there. TV3 News has expressed a keen interest. All the women who participated in the documentary will be there.
At the end of the documentary the general public and the media will have a 15-20 minute session to ask any questions they have to either the women or myself. If you know anyone that would be interested in attending please pass on my details to them as soon as possible.
Steven O’ Riordan
003532971444
00353870674520
Also there’s a link to the trailer which is 57 seconds long below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCIwIj5cgl8