Ireland to Pay $45M to Catholic Laundry Workers

[trotsky]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ireland-pay-45m-catholic-laundry-workers-19495097

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) Shatter's decision came four months after a government-commissioned probe found that women consigned to the laundries were broadly branded "fallen" women, a euphemism for prostitutes. The investigation found that few actually were, while most instead were victims of poverty, homelessness and dysfunctional families in a state lacking the facilities to care for them.

...

And in a challenge to the four orders of nuns that ran the workhouses, Shatter called on them to help pay the bill.

The orders — the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge, the Sisters of Charity, and the Good Shepherd Sisters — all issued statements welcoming the payments plan. None offered any pledge to contribute and insisted their staff had done the best they could at the time, given the state's own inability to care for the women.

"The best they could" was apparently abusing them and treating them like slaves. It's good that the victims are receiving something, but it doesn't really begin to make up for what happened.

[niyad]

1. nothing can make up for the way these women were treated. all part of the profound hatred

for women exhibited by the church, etc. shaming women for breaking their rules.

[trotsky]

5. It's great that the Irish government can step up and do something.

In the past, drawing the line between Irish government/society and the Catholic Church was downright impossible - they were one and the same. But in recent years, partially thanks to the endless scandals of the RCC, the Irish are breaking free. This is a great sign of the wane of religious influence on their government.

Apologists for the church who blame society conveniently ignore which social institution in Ireland shaped the values of that society. Anything to avoid acknowledging the errors, abuses, and misbehavior of their church.

[DreamGypsy]

2. "Bloodless brides of Jesus, if they just once could glimpse their groom"

They'd like to drive us down the drain
At the Magdalene laundries

[yesphan]

3. Amazing, but

eerie and sad song.

[rug]

4. So, they were placed there and supervised by the government.

A government-commissioned investigation in February found that the state was legally responsible for overseeing the laundries, too. Prime Minister Enda Kenny offered an official apology for what he called "a cruel, pitiless Ireland" that had abused the women with " untrue and offensive stereotypes."