Magdalene Asylum - Public Scandal

Public Scandal

The existence of the Irish asylums was not well known until, in 1993, an order of nuns in Dublin sold part of their convent to a real-estate developer. The remains of 155 inmates who had been buried in unmarked graves on the property were exhumed and, except for one, cremated and reburied in a mass grave in Glasnevin Cemetery. This triggered a public scandal and became local and national news. In 1999, Mary Norris, Josephine McCarthy and Mary-Jo McDonagh, all asylum inmates, gave accounts of their treatment. The 1997 Channel 4 documentary Sex in a Cold Climate interviewed former inmates of Magdalene Asylums who testified to continued sexual, psychological and physical abuse while being isolated from the outside world for an indefinite amount of time. Allegations about the convents' conditions and the treatment of the Irish asylums' inmates were made into the award-winning 2002 film The Magdalene Sisters, written and directed by Peter Mullan.

In June 2011, Mary Raftery wrote in the Irish Times that in the early 1940s, some Irish state institutions, such as the Army, switched from commercial laundries to "institutional laundries" (Magdalene laundries). At the time, there was concern in the Dáil that workers in commercial laundries were losing jobs because of the switch to institutional laundries. Oscar Traynor, then Minister for Defence, said that the contracts with the Magdalene laundries “contain a fair wages clause,” though the women in those laundries did not receive wages.

Shortly afterwards, the Irish Times revealed that a ledger listed Áras an Uachtaráin, Guinness, Clerys, the Gaiety Theatre, Dr Steevens' Hospital, the Bank of Ireland, the Department of Defence, the Departments of Agriculture and Fisheries, CIÉ, Portmarnock Golf Club, Clontarf Golf Club and several leading hotels amongst those who used a Magdalene laundry. This was unearthed by Steven O' Riordan, a young Irish filmmaker who directed and produced a documentary called The Forgotten Maggies. It is the only Irish-made documentary on the subject matter and was originally launched at The Galway Film Fleadh 2009. It was also screened on TG4, an Irish television station in 2011, attracting over 360,000 viewers. The documentary's website notes that a group called Magdalene Survivors Together was set up after the release of the documentary, because so many Magdalene women came forward as a result of its airing. The women who appeared in the documentary were the first-ever Magdalene women to meet with government officials in Ireland. The women helped to bring national and international attention back to the subject matter.