260 Clare women in Magdalene Laundries

The revelations of the McAleese Report into the operation of the Magdalene Laundries has sent shockwaves across the county as it emerged that 261 Clare women and girls spent time in the institutions, the sixth highest amount in the State.

 

Historical documents, which are referenced in the report, show that a laundry was operated in Ennis’ Convent of Mercy in the early 1900s.

While the report does not identify any Clare laundries, it does detail the experiences of three teenagers from the county sent to Limerick’s Good Shepherd Convent in the late  1940s and early 1950s.

The report, which examined the archives of Clare County Council, outlines that the young girls were sent to the laundries by the health authorities in Clare because their foster families would no longer be paid for taking care of them once they turned 15. There are no records of Clare girls and women being sent to the laundries because of the birth of children outside of marriage.

The only counties with more women and girls spending time in the laundries were Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Tipperary and Wexford and with the origins of more than 4,000 of those in the laundries unknown, the number of Clare women and girls who were admitted and worked there could be even higher.

The report of the committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the laundries looked at records identified in the archives of Clare County Council, including a number of general records as well as documents confirming referrals of individual women by the health authorities.

Extensive searches were carried out from the Clare County Archive including records from the Clare Board of Health and Public Assistance from 1915-1966 as well as records on the operation of the County Home and County Hospital.

According to the report, the records of referrals of girls and women to the Magdalene Laundries by the health authorities in Clare do not arise in the context of the birth of children outside of marriage.
Instead, the three cases identified, which date to the 1940s and 1950s, appear to have arisen out of fostering arrangements of so-called ‘boarded out children’ that had broken down.

The McAleese Report states, “With regard to ‘boarded out children’ generally it can be noted that the financial payments to foster parents (boarding out allowances) ceased when the child reached the age of 15.”

Records of the Department of Health cited in the report refer to one inspector in 1941 referring to a lack of “ties of affection” which “is shown by the frequent refusal of foster parents to provide a home for the children after the age of 15 unless the board continues to maintain them. Recently, a girl of 15 was returned to the County Home by her foster parents when payments for maintenance ceased. Nothing is gained by rearing children in foster homes if they are returned to the County Home at the age of 15.”

Three cases outlined in the report were taken from the Clare Manager’s Order series and have been identified in the records of having entered the Magdalene Laundry from the County Home. The first case described in the Manager’s Order in 1948 was of a 17-year-old ‘boarded out’ girl removed to the Good Shepherd Convent in Limerick.

From the records, the committee has determined that the girl’s mother was alive at the time but that the 17-year-old was not living with her. The girl’s last address was noted as the County Home and she remained at the Magdalene Laundry for just less than two years before she “went to a situation”, or a job.

The second case was for the following year of 1949 involving another 17-year-old girl who was also sent to the Good Shepherd. Records show she was described as being from the County Home and there was “no account” of parents. She remained in the Magdalene Laundry for just over five years, at which point she went to the Magdalene Sisters in Belfast.

The third case identified in the records of Clare County Council occurred in 1950. The records identify the girl under a slightly adjusted name as having entered the laundry at the age of 16.

She is recorded as entering on the recommendation of a named person at the County Home. There was “no account” of parents. She spent almost three months at the Magdalene Laundry before she “went to the convent”, which was not a Magdalene.