A tearful apology by the
Irish Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in the Dáil, to survivors of the
"Magdalene laundries", with promises of financial redress, has led
to fresh demands from the former residents of the Protestant
Bethany Home in Dublin for inclusion in the scheme.
It is not clear whether
this group, incarcerated in the Dublin premises between 1921 and
1972, will succeed. Mr Kenny pointed out that Bethany was a home,
not a laundry.
The leader of the Bethany
Survivors, Derek Leinster, said on Wednesday that the State had
included it in inspections, and that it had doubled as a women's
prison for much of its existence. After the passage of the
Registration of Maternity Homes Act of 1934, Bethany House became
subject to inspection by the Department of Local Government and
Public Health.
Many of the women and
children incarcerated there suffered ill-health, and the infant
mortality rate was high. A recently discovered unmarked grave in
Mount Jerome Cemetery, in Dublin, holds the remains of 219 babies
and children from the home. Mr Kenny agreed to look at the matter
again.
The Justice Minister,
Alan Shatter, has pledged to investigate whether the Bethany
survivors can receive redress the same as, or similar to, that for
survivors of the Magdalene laundries.
Bethany was not an
official institution of the Church of Ireland, but C of I clergy
sat on the board, which also included a minority of representatives
from Reformed Churches.
On Thursday of last week,
the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, agreed that redress
for the victims, with whom he has had a number of meetings, should
include contributions from all of the Churches involved. He also
called for an official inquiry.
He undertook to write to
the government again. He also told the former residents of measures
that he had undertaken to provide for their pastoral care.
He said: "Having spoken again in recent days with the former
residents, I am conscious of their feeling of injustice that the
State has not examined the home in a similar way to other
institutions."