Magdalene Laundries: The Mc Aleese Report 2013

The Ryan Report published in 2009, admitted for the first time that the state had been involved in widespread abuse in its involvement in state run and in church run industrial schools, however Magdalene Laundries were expressly excluded from this report. The Magdalene Laundries operated throughout Ireland, in particular from 1922 to 1996.

However, it would take pressure from The UN Committee against Torture (UNCAT) who demanded that the Irish government commission an independent report which became the recent Mc Aleese Report 2013 into the state and church abuse within these institutions. As a result of this recent report, the Irish government was forced to openly apologise for the injustices levied against these women.

Following on from this in the wake of international and domestic pressure, plans are now afoot by the government to establish a redress scheme for these women to ensure that they are provided with some level of financial security and psychological assistance into the future and for the rest of their lives.

In Ireland, statistics show that up to 30,000 women were incarcerated in the Magdalene Laundries and were treated in violation of their human rights under the prohibition on torture and the right to liberty as guaranteed under the UN Declaration on Human Rights and European Convention on Human Rights.

Able Solicitors have been actively involved in the fight for justice with many of the surviving women and their families in recent years and we are now drafting applications for these women and their families for the redress scheme.

If you or your family have been affected by the abuses within the Magdalene Laundries, please contact us today on 00353-(0)1-4736963 and we can arrange to meet with you in the comfort of your own surroundings to assess your application in a sensitive and professional manner.