Ireland to pay $45 million to Catholic laundry workers

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: CBS

Ireland will pay several hundred former residents of Catholic-run Magdalene laundries at least 34.5 million euros ($45 million) to compensate them for their years of unpaid labor and public shame, the government announced Wednesday following a decade-long campaign by former residents of the workhouses.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter apologized to the women - an estimated 770 survivors out of more than 10,000 who lived in the dozen facilities from the 1920s to 1996 - that it had taken so long for them to receive compensation. The move marked the latest step in a two-decade effort by Ireland to investigate and redress the human rights abuses in Catholic institutions.

In remarks to former Magdalenes, some of them in the press-conference audience, Shatter said he hoped they would accept the government's compensation plans as "a sincere expression of the state's regret for failing you in the past, its recognition of your current needs, and its commitment to respecting your dignity and human rights as full, equal members of our nation."

Shatter said the total cost of payments could reach 58 million euros ($75.5 million) if the maximum number of eligible women worldwide applies. The tax-free payments would range from 11,500 euros ($15,000), for women who spent less than three months working in a laundry, to up to 100,000 euros ($130,000) for those who spent 10 years or more there.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57591116/ireland-to-pay-$45-million-to-catholic-laundry-workers/

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Magdalene laundries survivors slam compensation deal

Survivors of Catholic-run workhouses have threatened to take the Government to the United Nations watchdog on torture over plans to pay some of them as little as €11,500 for their detention.

Women detained in Magdalene laundries slammed an offer and criticised the religious orders for not doubling the multi-million compensation package being put forward by the State.

Magdalene Survivors Together warned government to go back to the drawing board and take account of the emotional, psychological and physical damage they suffered, as well as loss of earnings for slave labour.

Maureen Sullivan, the youngest known survivor admitted to one of the laundries, claimed the figures "were totted up all wrong".

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/magdalene-laundries-survivors-slam-compensation-deal-29375538.html

[hrmjustin]

1. I hope the survivors find peace and that this never happens again.

[truebrit71]

2. Umm why isn't the Catholic Church being made to pay for their (many, continued) sins?

If I was an Irish tax-payer I'd be pretty peeved at having to foot the bill for the actions of that cult of child-molesters...

[FailureToCommunicate]

6. Selling the obscenely ornate interior of just ONE of the lesser churches in Rome could cover the

whole cost, and more.

[forestpath]

8. I wondered the same thing.

[Scairp]

11. Ummm, the taxpayers have liability here

The bloody taxpayers of Ireland voluntarily sent their daughters to these hellholes for reasons of perceived family honor, or something like that. They are no better than certain Islamic countries where they believe it's ok to kill a daughter over family honor, even if she has been assaulted against her will. So FUCK the taxpayers, they can suck it up on this one.

[Arugula Latte]

14. Yes, the Church should pay out the nose.

Gawd knows those creepy charlatans were behind this and can afford it.

[Sherman A1]

3. It's a start, but

the numbers seem pretty low.

[RebelOne]

4. I saw the movie about this and what was done to them was appalling. n/t

[RainDog]

5. The Catholic Church is going to bankrupt Ireland

between this and the pedophile sheltering that went on in Ireland for 40 years, I don't see how Ireland can afford to continue to allow such an institution to be part of their govt.

These actions on the part of the church have certainly done more than anything else to drive people away from the church... the exodus was huge before the church, basically, said... you want to leave...well, you can't. (i.e. people were filing to be removed from the church rolls.)

Glad to see people in Ireland have not let this nasty institution get away with their decades of abuse without punishment.

[tblue]

7. Just for kissing a boy

they could make you go there. Til 1996!!!! Those were AWFUL places. Not that different from the Taliban. Should be at least a couple million euros each.

[RainDog]

9. The Catholic Church is an abusive institution

I do not understand why anyone who is actually a liberal supports this organization.

It comes down to a huge cognitive disconnect between the lies they tell themselves and the reality of the harm this institution has done to people all over the world.

but, hey, if they have a nice local priest, what does it matter, right?

[Arugula Latte]

15. Shhh! You'll be called a "bigot" for pointing out the obvious.

Oh, and some Catholics are Democrats so mum's the word, right?

[displacedtexan]

10. This is why Sinaid O'Conner burned the picture of the pope on TV

She was one of the victims of this horrendous place.

[Dawson Leery]

12. Exactly.

JPII supported the practice.

[JDPriestly]

13. K&R