A report published later is expected to detail Irish government knowledge of what went on in Magdalene laundries.
The laundries were Catholic-run workhouses that operated in Ireland from the 1920s to the mid-1990s. Girls considered "troubled" or what were then called "fallen women" were sent there and did unpaid manual work.
[...]
The last Magdalene asylum in Ireland, in Waterford, closed in 1996 .
[...]
In the late 1990s former inmates began to speak out about their treatment.
They told horrifying stories of sexual, psychological and physical abuse .
[...]
The women toiled behind locked doors unable to leave after being admitted and while the laundries were paid, they received no wages
[...]
One survivor, Maureen Sullivan, 60, was sent to a Magdalene laundry in New Ross, County Wexford, at the age of 12.
Maureen's father died leaving a widow and three children.
Her mother re-married and Maureen claims she was abused by her stepfather.
The nuns noticed, called in a priest and convinced her mother that Maureen would be going to a "lovely school".
Maureen Sullivan: "We had no rights. My name was taken off me"
She said she never saw her school books again, was forced to work night and day, seven days a week, and was given a new name, Frances.
[...]
Ms Sullivan said her day began at six in the morning, and finished at nine at night.
She would have to scrub and polish floors, work in the laundry and then make rosary beads and knit Aran sweaters.
"Everything was taken from me; my name, my rights as a child to go out and play with other children, my rights to communicate with other people," she adds.
[...]
It has been estimated that up to 30,000 women passed through such laundries in Ireland.
The congregations which ran them were the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, the Religious Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
BBC
The laundries were Catholic-run workhouses that operated in Ireland from the 1920s to the mid-1990s. Girls considered "troubled" or what were then called "fallen women" were sent there and did unpaid manual work.
[...]
The last Magdalene asylum in Ireland, in Waterford, closed in 1996 .
[...]
In the late 1990s former inmates began to speak out about their treatment.
They told horrifying stories of sexual, psychological and physical abuse .
[...]
The women toiled behind locked doors unable to leave after being admitted and while the laundries were paid, they received no wages
[...]
One survivor, Maureen Sullivan, 60, was sent to a Magdalene laundry in New Ross, County Wexford, at the age of 12.
Maureen's father died leaving a widow and three children.
Her mother re-married and Maureen claims she was abused by her stepfather.
The nuns noticed, called in a priest and convinced her mother that Maureen would be going to a "lovely school".
Maureen Sullivan: "We had no rights. My name was taken off me"
She said she never saw her school books again, was forced to work night and day, seven days a week, and was given a new name, Frances.
[...]
Ms Sullivan said her day began at six in the morning, and finished at nine at night.
She would have to scrub and polish floors, work in the laundry and then make rosary beads and knit Aran sweaters.
"Everything was taken from me; my name, my rights as a child to go out and play with other children, my rights to communicate with other people," she adds.
[...]
It has been estimated that up to 30,000 women passed through such laundries in Ireland.
The congregations which ran them were the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, the Religious Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
BBC
...but hey, call yourself what you want...you will anyway.
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