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Assignment: Ireland’s Forced Labour Survivors

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Ireland’s Forced Labour Survivors

23/10/2014

BBC World Service - Assignment, Ireland’s Forced Labour Survivors

Survivors of forced labour in Ireland are demanding answers from the church and the state

Women abused in institutions run by the Catholic Church are demanding answers from religious authorities and the government. But will the latest inquiry give them any peace?

Mary Merritt grew up in an orphanage run by the Catholic Church in Ireland. One day, when she was 11 years old, she was so hungry she took apples from a nearby orchard. As punishment, she was sent away to a ‘Magdalene Laundry’, where she was forced to work for free and often thrown into solitary confinement. When she tried to escape, she was raped by a priest. 

Mary stayed at the laundry for 14 years. Now her and other survivors of horrific abuse at these Catholic-run institutions are still looking for answers despite a series of government inquiries.

The women who were forced into Magdalene laundries – named after the Biblical follower of Jesus who was also a prostitute – washed clothes for hotels, businesses, and government departments. They were also involved in lace making and other lucrative activities. They were held against their will in terrible conditions, harshly punished for every minor violation of the rules, and paid nothing for their hard labour.  The money the laundries made supported four orders of nuns who have never apologised and have refused to open their ledgers to the public.

Now a new government inquiry – the sixth so far into the Catholic institutions that dominated Ireland throughout the 20th Century - has been announced. Sue Lloyd-Roberts hears the stories of the survivors and finds out why they have no faith that they will ever hear the full truth of what happened inside the Magdalene laundries. 

Produced by Mike Wendling

(Photo: Eighty-three-year-old Mary Merritt is a survivor of both a Mother and Baby Home and a Magdalene laundry. BBC copyright)

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