Magdalene survivor may secure up to €150,000 in redress scheme

A LOCAL woman who spent over five years in a Magdalene Laundry could receive up to €150,000 in compensation under the terms of a national redress scheme proposed by a new lobby group.
Margaret Joyce (67) from Ballina, Killaloe, is one of the 400 women who have applied for inclusion in the Magdalene Redress Scheme, which will be structured by Mr Justice John Quirke, who has been given three months to submit a report on how to proceed.
If Mr Quirke accepts the general terms of the scheme proposed by the Magdalene Survivors Together (MST) group, Ms Joyce could receive up to €150,000. The group  presented its proposals to Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Junior Minister for Mental Health Kathleen Lynch at a meeting in Dublin last week.
The proposal includes a payment of €20,000 for each year that a woman worked without wages in a Magdalene Laundry and a lump-sum payment of €50,000 each for psychological damage. The maximum amount paid to any woman would be capped at €200,000, regardless of how many years she had worked in the laundry.
Group’s spokesman Steven O’Riordan said these are the “minimum” amounts they believe the women are entitled to. “If the women are getting less than what they deserve, our group will not be signing up to that,” he said.
MST estimates that no more than 1,000 of the 10,000 former Magdalene residents are still alive. Ms Joyce hasn’t been able to obtain records from the Sisters outlining her stint in the Magdalene Laundry in Limerick City but she insists she spent at least five years there, often working over 12 hours a day, free of charge.
Despite asking the Sisters for her own records, she was told they hadn’t any. “I was in St Mary’s in Pennywell Road in Limerick. I went in there after making my confirmation in Ballina on May 27, 1957. I never got a chance to attend the local secondary school and lost out on a proper education, which I regret to this day. I was good at most subjects in national school apart from maths and wasn’t able to help my children with their homework when they were young, which was very hard.”
She recently spent six days in  hospital after breaking a bone in her wrist. She was determined however to attend Dáil Éireann last week to hear Taoiseach Enda Kenny deliver his apology to the women who were coerced into  Magdalene Laundries.
Asked about the national redress scheme, she admitted she would be delighted with any compensation that would allow her to live in some degree of comfort for the remainder of her life.
“I hope that this redress scheme works quickly and efficiently and doesn’t drag on and on.”
Now living near Daly’s Cross in Castleconnell, she said she would use any compensation to renovate her 102-year-old cottage home, which is quite damp.
She remembers a time in St Mary’s when she had to wash herself with cold water in an open bath in the courtyard after six or seven girls had already used the same water previously, contrary to proper hygiene practices.
All the young women got up between 6 and 7am, went to mass, had a quick breakfast and started washing clothes at 8.15am. This would continue until about 7pm during the winter and up to 8 or 9pm during the summer. One of the most galling aspects for Margaret was the fact the women were not allowed to wash their hands after handling the dirty laundry.
Dirty linen was supplied from all the local hospitals, secondary schools (including Rockwell College and Cistercian College, Roscrea), businesses and private houses in Limerick City and County.
Minister Alan Shatter said the Government is determined to ensure the fund will not be used to pay lawyers’ fees, with monies going solely to benefit the women. He also acknowledged there were many women who would never hear the apology.