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A GROUP OF Magdalene survivors met yesterday with Senator Martin McAleese, husband of former President, Mary McAleese, about State interaction with the Magdalene laundries.
The Justice for Magdalenes group said that a group of surivors in contact with the organisation met with Senator McAleese, who is the Independent Chairperson of the Inter-departmental Committee to “clarify state interaction with the Magdalene Laundries”.
JFM described the meeting as “a deliberately private event, in accordance with the wishes of the women and consistent with the organisation’s ethos to put the dignity and privacy of survivors first”.
Katherine O’Donnell, Director of Women’s Studies at UCD’s School of Social Justice/JFM Advisory Committee said:
As the Magdalene Laundries system served to disempower and silence women, it is vital that survivors actively participate in the Inter-departmental Committee process. Apart from the vast level of valuable knowledge that survivors possess, it is also essential that those most affected are offered a voice at the table.
Women from all over Ireland travelled to Dublin for the meeting, including the daughters of two women incarcerated in Magdalene Laundries who are now deceased.
The JFM said these women “wished to give their mothers a voice as well as highlighting the generational impact on families of the Magdalene Laundry system and the importance of end of life issues”.
Last week JFM submitted its first tranche of testimonies from women. The document amounted to 519 pages and included contributions from a number of the survivors who met with Senator McAleese yesterday.
Claire McGettrick, JFM PRO said that in the testimonies already gathered, all survivors said that they could not leave the laundries, that the doors were locked and the windows inaccessible.
If they did try to leave they were returned by the Gardaí, while others decided not to try to escape because they knew the same fate awaited them. They all told us they could not complain, in most cases they remarked that there was nobody to complain to; while others begged to leave, often on a daily basis, but all were refused. Every single survivor confirmed that they were never paid, that no inspections were ever carried out and that no government official ever came to check on them.”
According to James M Smith (Boston College and JFM Advisory Committee) the JFM asserts that there is “ample evidence of state involvement with the Magdalene Laundries to warrant an immediate apology, pensions and restoring lost wages to this group of ageing and elderly women”.
He added: “They need help now while still alive to benefit from it.”
JFM thanked Senator McAleese for agreeing to meet the women.
Last month, the JFM criticised the government for failing to implement the recommendations of a United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT). In response, Justice Minister Alan Shatter said he would contact the survivors on this matter.
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Bad week for gorillas
Poor thing :-(
Condolences to Gerry and all the crew in Dublin Zoo. Although some readers may not agree that the Zoo is not the place for an animal; Harry was a much loved and cared for animal and will be missed by all that knew and visited him. RIP Harry
I can understand where people are coming from with their dislike of zoos, however, think of all the species in the world who may already be extinct and nothing known of them if it weren’t for zoos allowing us to see them in real life and watch them interact with each other and have babies and care for their young etc. RIP Harry.
Which species have zoos saved from extinction?
jesus i took pics of him just there on sunday poor thing he seemed in great form on the day
No you didn’t, he wasn’t out all weekend, we were there Sunday for thee meet the keeper with the Gorillas. They explained he was not there, and they were keeping him inside as a precaution. Even the keeper was missing, it was one of the elephants keepers doing the talk
Caught rapid, techguy.
i was there sunday but there was no keeper talking at the time didnt know they had 2 large ones there was only one there when we were there and 3 smaller guys assumed the big one was harry
Tachguy, I thought it was him too until I seen him, beside the females. Just a friendly info before you share the photo as him. Nice day for it Sunday
yea cheers – gorgeous day sunday massive queues too
You should have got his signature.
Rip buddy
This photo is doing the rounds. Very fitting. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=511889242352289&substory_index=0&id=152480891626461
:’(
Gentle Giant :-0
What kind of life had he really? Life in an enclosure constantly being shouted at by tourists banging on the glass looking for him to do something funny for a Facebook post. We are only interested in animals when they can make some money from them.
Not much glass at their current enclosure, they are on an island
In fairness the space they were moved to in recent years was far superior and definitely allowed them more freedom. Zoos are educational and help preserve species which may otherwise have gone extinct, they also allow people to see all of these animals in person and watch how they interact with each other. Obviously the most important thing about zoos is ensuring all of the animals are kept in suitable areas with plenty of room and cared for properly.
Exactly Miriam, if habitats weren’t being destroyed we wouldn’t need zoos, he was a beautiful animal.
Obviously wild life should live in the wild, but mankind have made that impossible.
Poor thing, died of loneliness and boredom
Maybe you should of joined him so…
Loneliness? He lived there with several other gorillas in the troops?
Stephen, while I agree with you the facts are western lowland gorillas can live to 60 in captivity and around 35 in the wild. But it is about quality of life so I’d take living on the wild.
Stephen; how did you manage to get the results of the autopsy before it’s even been done?
Completely agree, I’d never seen an animal so depressed in my life, these animals do not belong in the zoo.
no animal does, horrible place for them to live
Adios Harry.
Free at last.
I didn’t even know he was sick…
Rip ya legend
The Dublin gorilla obviously died of a broken heart after hearing about the American gorilla.
.
(They should round up some Dublin Gangland Thugs and put them in his cage…..
Same Species.)
That is harsh on gorillas.
Troupe.
Oh no, I have tons of photos of him when I took my kids to the zoo, years ago. he loved and hogged all the fruit and bananas, great catcher too.
My condolences to his five emmm is children the word? Or cubs?
RIP
I’m sorry, but it’s his own fault. I’m not going to give in to this sort of emotionalism.
Wrong gorilla
All gorillas are wrong. If they wanted to be right, they wouldn’t be gorillas.
I only saw him three months ago and he looked fine
I told him to stop smoking but wouldn’t listen to me.
People are outraged and rightly so about Gorilla deaths.
Whether from blatant callousness of Zoo keepers in shooting them or from Zoo visitors desire to stop by and stare at them from time to time , this treating animals as curiosities in menageries is deemed more important than their lives.
Harambe being shot,-the incident, which was captured on a cell phone camera, has sparked an outcry of emotion, with thousands of mourners branding it a ‘senseless death’ .Harry in Dublin Zoo led a life imprisoned for profit and human entertainment.
Either way the non humans pay with their lack of freedom even though the people who imprisoned and killed them say they were gentle giants. they were despite being raised in alien prisons and doing the humans wishes. They lose their families and are never free to just ‘be’ in a natural environment.
Zoos are penetentiarys for innocent creatures. Does that matter to those profiting from them….of course not.
have your say