Welcome to Justice for Magdalenes

Justice for Magdalenes (JFM), the survivor advocacy group, is announcing the end of its political campaign, begun in June 2009.

As outlined in JFM’s Public Disclosure, the political campaign had twin objectives, namely:

(i) to bring about an official apology from the Irish State, and
(ii) the establishment of a compensation scheme for all Magdalene survivors.

And, as our Public Disclosure explains, “[o]nce JFM achieves these objectives, the door will be open to every survivor and/or her family members and/or other groups representing Magdalene survivors to pursue their own claim for redress.”

As a voluntary group, and having worked at maximum capacity over the past four years, JFM believes it has achieved all that it can by way of political advocacy. The responsibility to ensure that justice is delivered to survivors of the Laundries now rests with all members of Irish society, including Church, State, families and local communities. It is the collective responsibility of all citizens to ensure that the promise of An Taoiseach’s official State apology (19th February 2013) is delivered upon.

JFM has contacted all of the survivors and relatives with whom we have been in regular contact over the past number of years to inform them of our withdrawal from the political arena. We will continue to assist these survivors and relatives in our personal capacities as they engage with the Magdalen Commission. It has been our great privilege to earn the women’s trust and we will always feel indebted to them for sharing their life stories with us.

Read the entire exit statement > >

• JFM complete revised Restorative Justice and Reparations Scheme
• JFM's Principal Submission (public redacted version)
• Registration of preliminary expression of interest in the receipt of benefits from the Magdalen Laundry Fund (Department of Justice)
• Full Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee Investigating State Involvement with the Magdalene Laundries
• JFM Follow-up Report to the UN Committee Against Torture
• UN Human Rights Officer of the High Commission posting of the JFM submission
• State involvement in the Magdalene Laundries: A Summary of JFM's submissions to the Inter-departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalene Laundries
• JFM complete revised Restorative Justice and Reparations Scheme
• JFM submission to the UN Committee Against Torture
• JFM Narrative of State Interaction
• JFM submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Ireland's Fourth Periodic Report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
• JFM submission to the United Nations Periodic Review
• JFM submission to the Irish Human Rights Commission
• Synopis of JFM's campaign and milestones to date for quick reference

Justice for Magdalenes gratefully ackowledges The Ireland Fund of Great Britain for its recent grant. This funding will enable JFM to cover expenses associated with our final push in the UN Committee Against Torture process, to gather and print testimonies, and to perform further research in order to assist the Inter-Departmental Committee's inquiries into state interaction with the Laundries.

We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Feminist Review Trust, under which JFM has been gathering testimonies in conjunction with and as a pilot phase of the UCD Magdalene Oral History Project (which is also funded by the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Science), directed by Dr. Katherine O'Donnell, Director of Women's Studies at UCD's School of Social Justice and JFM Advisory Committee member.