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TWO YEARS AFTER Councillors rejected plans for a hotel at Ireland’s last Magdalene Laundry, focus has once again turned to the site on Dublin’s Sean McDermott Street.
It was the last laundry in the State to close in 1996 and has become a focal point for potential memorialisation.
Dublin City Council – which owns the site – is currently working on possible options for the future of the former convent and surrounding lands, according to a spokesperson.
It is also still in informal discussion with The National College of Ireland with a view to using part of the former convent for educational purposes.
The Government also has plans for the site.
It is understood that Government officials are also in contact with Dublin City Council in relation to its future use.
The Government’s preference is for a memorial or archival centre for commemoration. It is also expected that housing on the site will feature should plans progress, one source said.
Meanwhile, Open Heart City, a voluntary collective of survivor groups, historians and architects, has been working since last summer to map out how best to create a ‘Site of Conscience’ at the former convent.
Sites of Conscience have been set up worldwide. They are museums and memorials that highlight history, and in the process try to promote justice and human rights.
Examples include the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City, and the Perm-36 Gulag Museum in Perm, in Russia, and the Maison des Esclaves – or House of Slaves – on Gorée Island off the coast of Senegal.
The Open Heart City collective has engaged with survivors and the local community to set out how this might be achieved.
“The strongest motivation [behind the project] is that survivors, not just of Magdalene Laundries, whenever they’ve been consulted…want public education and, particularly, education on the national curriculum about what happened,” says Katherine O’Donnell, History of Ideas, UCD School of Philosophy, and a member of Justice for Magdalenes Research.
“And it seems that this site uniquely allows for that. It’s in public ownership, it’s a large site, and it’s right in the heart of our Capital City.”
‘Memorial’
The questions arising from the Open Heart initiative and the Government’s interest in the site have previously been explored by TheJournal.ie here.
How best to create a national archive of records related to institutional trauma in Ireland in the 20th century and ensure that all survivors and stakeholders are consulted?
These issues will continue to be explored and debated over the coming months as parties try to reach a consensus on the future use of the former convent, which was run by The Sisters of Charity from 1887.
What is clear is that Government has now committed to memorials to both Magdalene Laundries and Mother & Baby Homes but delivered neither.
In 2013, Justice John Quirke recommended that the former laundry site on Sean McDermott Street should be used for a memorial.
In the Dáil that year, Taoiseach Enda Kenny gave a State apology to Magdalene survivors and said the Government would finance a memorial.
“I am also conscious that many of the women I met last week want to see a permanent memorial established to remind us all of this dark part of our history,” said Kenny.
I agree that this should be done and intend to engage directly with the representative groups and of as many of the women as possible to agree on the creation of an appropriate memorial to be financed by the Government separately from the funds that are being set aside for the direct assistance for the women.
In October 2020, Minister Roderic O’Gorman said that €500,000 had been set aside for a memorial at the former High Park Laundry in Drumcondra and that his Department planned to set up a Steering Committee to progress a memorial.
A spokesperson for The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said that this Steering Group has been set up by Respond Housing Agency to consider the issue of a suitable memorial at the High Park site.
“The Department is represented on this group and a further meeting is expected to be arranged in the coming weeks to advance this project further.”
Following publication of The Commission of Investigation’s Report into Mother & Baby Homes, Government again committed to delivering a National Memorial and Records Centre related to institutional trauma in Ireland in the 20th century.
It also committed to developing an all-Ireland memorial in consultation with former residents and other key stakeholders as well as local memorials.
‘A Jail’
Deirdre Cadwell was raised in the Good Shepherd Convent in Co. Waterford.
As a teenager, she was sent to Dublin, and was moved back and forth between High Park in Drumcondra and Sean McDermott Street laundry from 1978 to 1982.
She was brought to Sean McDermott Street, she says, “as punishment”.
There the nuns put her to work from 7am to 6pm. “It was basically a jail,” recalls Cadwell.
Forty years on, she wants the Sean McDermott Street site preserved for educational purposes and social housing.
“I still feel that this piece of property should be remembered for what it was. But a part of it should go back to the people of the area,” said Cadwell.
“I think part of that land should go towards social housing, for the elderly. I’d also like to see a memorial, or interactive museum.
“It’s history and it should be a place that children can go with their school to see it,” said Cadwell.
She adds that there should be a memorial garden under any redevelopment. “So when we want to go there, we can go there. Other than just going to the cemetery.”
‘Potential’
O’Donnell of Open Heart City says the collective is committed to working alongside local community organisations regarding the long-promised restoration of the nearby Rutland Street School.
Consultations with local stakeholders and survivors have been ongoing for more than six months.
It is planned that a ‘Vision Document’ and plans for a temporary pavilion at the site will be finalised in the coming months.
O’Donnell says if the Sean McDermott Street site is redeveloped with survivors in mind, it could provide a framework for other memorials to institutional abuse around the country.
“If we get this right, or even half-right, it could show the potential for what these sites can do,” she said.
The Council, meanwhile, said Councillors are debating what the various options may be for the site and are working on developing a set of guiding principles to assist in their consultations with stakeholders.
“The City Council has not formally entered into negotiations with any parties until Elected Members and management can devise a new brief for the site that offers opportunities for the local community while delivering on a fitting memorial,” a spokesperson said.
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Interesting stats there. in my last lab I was one of 2 guys but there was 10 women
Happy days! :)
Are you working in a biology-related field? If not, that’s very unusual!
Would I be right in saying that a groundbreaking project could not receive funding because it is spearheaded by a man. This positive discrimination, gender quotas and the like are stopping the best person available person for a job, reserch grant etc from getting it.
Imagine the reaction if this was a male only grant.
couldnt agree more.
Any initiative of such importance would be supported
There are countless grants available for men. If a male scientist proposes a project of any merit, it will get funded.
All this talk of ‘best man for the job’ amuses me, as if that’s what happens right now.
You are totally right, this is the world we live in today…
Hi Philib,
The problem is that the best ‘man’ for the job does not always get the job as..he is a she. There are a number of studies confirming gender bias in performance review in STEM and, also, there is a smaller pool to choose. as you know yourself, no doubt, the social and emplowment set-up in Ireland is not the friendliest towards working mothers or fathers who want to spend the first few months raising their child. this leads to a winnowing of the remaining women as they approach 30 odd years of age.
I’m a post-doc in the Netherlands in a STEM field. In a study here a few years ago, they also found that the amount of women in science was relatively poor. They instigated a number of funding initiatives to encourage women to enter, remain in or return to research post-family. It made economic sense-after all, what was the point of them being expensively educated by the state and system only to drive them out? It also prevevnts loss of talented candidates and onset of intellectual poverty. Google NUFFIC-it gives a good shake-down of the rationale forming policy here. It’s working-numbers are climbing.
I have yet to meet a male, Dutch scientist who complains that his chances for advancement are reduced by these initiatives or that less talented women are edging him out of funding. Perhaps they are not quite so insecure. Maybe they won’t say to me directly…who knows?
It’s not an initiative to shaft men, it’s meant to help women and add a bit of balance to the scene. To repeat-helping women to succeed in the face of bias does not mean preventing men from succeeding in a system already tilted in their favour.
Philib, here’s a couple of studies on gender bias in performance review-I can’t send a direct link, google the titles if you like.
Have wonderfull Wednesday All!
Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students. Corinne A. Moss-Racusina,b, John F. Dovidiob, Victoria L. Brescollc, Mark J. Grahama,d, and Jo Handelsman
Study shows gender bias in science is real. Here’s why it matters. By Ilana Yurkiewicz
The Impact of Gender on the Review of Curricula Vitae of Job Appplicants and Tenure Candidates; An Empirical Study. R.E. Steinpreis et al
Unless that research is from Ireland Sarah, it has limited efficacy.
I’d hold out for a job in Rehab tbh. Miles more money, bigger pension and you dont even have to worry about turning over a profit.
Dont worry Bazalini, that €175k is not their salary. That’s for all research costs including salary (and possibly even the salary for any assistants needed on the project). Id be willing to that bet that successful applicants would be lucky to draw a salary even near to €50k….so yeah that rehab job would definitely be a better shout!
Also, its funding for a project that otherwise may not have gotten funded, possibly because it is not “in vogue”. Funding discrimination based on what fields of research are in fashion is unfortunately is a fairly big problem academia, and that is before even getting into any gender discrimination issues. Ideally science should be conducted for science’s sake and the progression of knowledge, rather than for profits. I think this scheme should be welcomed.
+1
Sad to see the taxpayer paying for government gender politics rather than just science.
Research should not be about the genital assignment of the researchers, just the work & its outcomes.
I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately though, that’s not how it works. A man is far more likely to receive funding and a greater salary. What’s that, if not gender discrimination?
Defenders of the status quo are generally ignorant to how it operates, I’ve found.
“A man is far more likely to receive funding and a greater salary. What’s that, if not gender discrimination?”
Just because their may be an imbalance doesn’t make it discrimination. Equality is about equal opportunity, not equal numbers.
Seems a little weird to be encouraging women with Ph.D’s to remain in STEM fields. Seems very much to be preaching to the choir, women who hold a Ph.D. in a STEM field, really shouldn’t need extra encouragement to get into STEM.
I’m all for promoting women in science, we always need more scientists, but this needs to be done at the secondary and even primary school levels, not at the Ph.D. levels.
John,
What we really need is positions and more funding, (a boost in wages wouldn’t hurt either with post docs now starting on 32k) to encourage people to actually stay in science. The vast majority leave academia right after the PhD or within 5 years because it provides zero financial security and low prospects. Without a significant commercial research sector in Ireland most also leave research.
I’m a scientist in medical research, I get ignored and talked over a lot. I would imagine this happens to a lot of women researchers. More money for women scientists is a very good thing!
All the teachers in my local primary school/creche/secondary school are female, can I get a grant, cos I really need a job, and this discrimination against men is terrible.
Good old leftist social engineering. Just pay people to make up the numbers even if they have no interest in the subject. I hear the next project is to fund women to become professional snooker players.
@agent, did you actually read the article? It clearly states that prospective candidates need a PHD or MD. So they’re hardly picking random women who have no interest in STEM research.
Totally skewed approach for aligning equal gender representation in STEM. Grants should be awarded based on the quality and strength of the applicant and their proposal, not on their gender. Will the government be rolling out a similar, positive discrimination scheme for areas in which men are unrepresented?
Would you ever make valid points
Men and women have the exact same opportunities to study science in this country, instead why not offer grants to the best regardless of gender? That would do a lot more for science
As a product of the Irish education system I can tell you that men and women don’t have the same opportunities to study science and engineering. In secondary school; I was actively discouraged from taking subjects like metal work, chemistry and physics – sure why wouldn’t I want to do home edc instead? I studied Microbiology and biochemistry in college and while it was much better for me then in secondary school, friends of mine who studied chemistry and physics told me that some TAs and Lectures almost expected them to drop out at some stage.
It is an uphill struggle for woman to get into certain fields of science; let alone get a PHD in a subject and once they get there they often find it difficult to get grants.
Surely a job/grant/etc should be given based on merit not gender. I know there are far less women in the lab sciences, but surely the answer is to see why as opposed to anything else.
Positive discrimination strikes again!!
Women in the workplace. Bad idea.
Just mention Gerbil Worming [aka climate change] and you get double :-)
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