Govt wants Pope to make Magdalen nuns pay-out

The Vatican is being urged to pressurise religious congregations that ran Magdalen laundries here to contribute to compensation and redress for former residents.

Reform Alliance TD Lucinda Creighton said it would be a “positive step” towards helping heal some of the hurt caused by religious orders involved in the running of the laundries.

She told The Irish Catholic it would not be “fair or equitable” if the Sate alone was expected to contribute to a redress scheme.

Ms Creighton raised the issue with Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore in the context of a parliamentary question.

Mr Gilmore revealed that the Government had dispatched Ireland’s Ambassador to the Vatican David Cooney to Rome to meet with senior Vatican officials on the issue. It is understood that the Government is pressing hard for the Vatican to pressurise the four orders to engage with the redress process. So far, the nuns have refused to make any contributions.

Mr Cooney has met with Vatican officials on a number of occasions, the Tánaiste told Ms Creighton to press them on the issue.

He revealed that “a written communication has also been sent via diplomatic channels to which a response is understood to be forthcoming”.

The four congregations that ran the Magdalen laundries here are, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Religious Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy and the Good Shepherd Sisters. In the wake of the inquiry carried out by Senator Martin McAleese into the laundries, several nuns who were involved in running the laundries told The Irish Catholic that they feared being scapegoated, pointing out that the laundries ran on a subsistence basis. The congregations also feel strongly that they have been – and continue to – care for many former residents.

In his report, Dr McAleese insisted that “there is no single or simple story of the Magdalen Laundries”. He also revealed “significant State involvement” in the laundries. Dr McAleese’s report came in for sharp criticism from some former residents.