Feminist Spaces Summer 2023

The Nation’s Virtue: The Irish Free State, the Catholic Church, and the Shadow of the Magdalene Laundries Keira Swift Up until the publication of the McAleese report in 2013, the Irish government had continuously denied involvement in the running of the ten Magdalene Laundries that operated the length of the country.1 Less than merely five years earlier, Minister for Education Batt O’Keefe refused to acknowledge State involvement, doubling down that “the Magdalen Laundries were privately-owned and operated establishments . . . the State did not refer individuals to the Magdalen Laundries nor was it complicit.”2 However, following the release of the report, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny conceded in a statement that “today we acknowledge the role of the State in your ordeal. We now know that the State itself was directly involved in over a quarter of all admissions to the Magdalene Laundries.”3 With these words, decades of State denial were refuted.

1 Both “Magdalen” and “Magdalene” are spellings seen in previous research and official documents. For the sake of continuity, the latter spelling will be used.

2 Patsy McGarry, “No Redress for Residents Magdalen Laundries,” The Irish Times, September 18, 2009.

3 Kenny, Enda, “Statement on the Magdalene Laundries;”, Irish Houses of Parliament, February 19, 2013, video of statement, 3:39-3:55, https://speakola. com/political/enda-kenny-taoseach-ireland-state-apology-magdalene-laundries-2013.

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