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| Magdalene laundries: UK women's 'fast settlement' calls | |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| Women who spent time in the Republic of Ireland's Magdalene laundries have called for a "fast, fair and just" settlement for their suffering. | |
| It comes after a meeting between 17 women, who now live in the UK, and the Irish prime minister Enda Kenny, where they described their treatment to him. | |
| Between 1922 and 1996 some 10,000 women and girls were made to work unpaid in laundries run by Roman Catholic nuns. | |
| The group say they are expecting Mr Kenny to give a full apology next week. | |
| Earlier this month a report found the Irish Republic government was involved in running the laundries, where women and girls worked without pay. | Earlier this month a report found the Irish Republic government was involved in running the laundries, where women and girls worked without pay. |
| The taoiseach has admitted the laundries operated in a "harsh and uncompromising Ireland" but has resisted calls from the opposition Fianna Fail party to make a formal apology from the Irish state. | The taoiseach has admitted the laundries operated in a "harsh and uncompromising Ireland" but has resisted calls from the opposition Fianna Fail party to make a formal apology from the Irish state. |
| BBC correspondent Nick Higham said: "The inmates included unmarried mothers, women guilty of petty crimes, or simply girls from broken homes. The last laundry - in a Dublin convent - closed as late as 1996." | BBC correspondent Nick Higham said: "The inmates included unmarried mothers, women guilty of petty crimes, or simply girls from broken homes. The last laundry - in a Dublin convent - closed as late as 1996." |
| The inquiry chaired by Senator Martin McAleese found 2,124 of those detained in the institutions were sent by the authorities. | The inquiry chaired by Senator Martin McAleese found 2,124 of those detained in the institutions were sent by the authorities. |
| Whole lives | Whole lives |
| Mary Currington, who spent time in Magdalene laundries in Ireland, said the only way they got away from the nuns was to come to the UK. | |
| She was among the group who met with Mr Kenny at the Irish embassy in central London. | |
| Mr Kenny has offered an expression of regret for the stigma attached to former inmates. | Mr Kenny has offered an expression of regret for the stigma attached to former inmates. |
| Earlier this week he met the Magdalene Survivors Together group, who have said they are confident they will receive an apology. | Earlier this week he met the Magdalene Survivors Together group, who have said they are confident they will receive an apology. |
| Our correspondent said: "Some women spent their whole lives in the laundries and died there, but most stayed only a few months, and many fled Ireland after their release... never to return." | Our correspondent said: "Some women spent their whole lives in the laundries and died there, but most stayed only a few months, and many fled Ireland after their release... never to return." |
| Women were forced into Magdalene laundries for a crime as minor as not paying for a train ticket, the McAleese report found. | Women were forced into Magdalene laundries for a crime as minor as not paying for a train ticket, the McAleese report found. |
| The report also confirmed that a police officer could arrest a girl or a woman without warrant if she was being recalled to the laundry or if she had run away. | The report also confirmed that a police officer could arrest a girl or a woman without warrant if she was being recalled to the laundry or if she had run away. |
| Fianna Fail has called for the establishment of a dedicated unit within the Department of Justice to co-ordinate the Irish Republic's response to the McAleese report, including all forms of redress for the survivors. | Fianna Fail has called for the establishment of a dedicated unit within the Department of Justice to co-ordinate the Irish Republic's response to the McAleese report, including all forms of redress for the survivors. |
| The system was the subject of a 2002 film, The Magdalene Sisters, which starred Geradline McEwan and Anne-Marie Duff, whose director said at the time he believed the former inmates should have received an apology. | The system was the subject of a 2002 film, The Magdalene Sisters, which starred Geradline McEwan and Anne-Marie Duff, whose director said at the time he believed the former inmates should have received an apology. |