Martin and Mary McAleese
Gavan Reilly tweetz:
Former president Mary McAleese is to become the Chancellor of the University of Dublin.
Her husband Martin is the chancellor of Dublin City University – there can’t be many examples, anywhere in the world, of a married couple both being chancellors of separate universities.
Previously: The Magdalene Report: A Conclusion
Martin McAleese with McAleese Inquiry into Magdalene laundries in February 2013
Further to the 2002 indemnity deal signed between then Minister for Education Dr Michael Woods and 18 congregations which capped the congregations’ abuse liability at €128million.
And last week’s Comptroller and Auditor General report which shows the congregations have paid just 13% of the €1.5billion compensation fund for victims of abuse who were residents of religious institutions.
And the McAleese Inquiry into the Magalene laundries which was chaired by Martin McAleese and published on Tuesday, February 5, 2013.
This morning.
In the Irish Examiner.
Conall Ó Fátharta writes:
A religious order that ran two Magdalene Laundries told the Government that its decision not to contribute any money to the redress scheme for survivors was based on the findings of the McAleese Report.
…To date, the four orders that ran Magdalene Laundries — the Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge, the Good Shepherd Sisters, and the Sisters of Charity — have refused to contribute any money to the redress scheme set up in 2013 to compensate women.
The McAleese committee had no remit to investigate allegations of torture or other criminal offences that occurred in the laundries.
However, the Government in its August 2013 letter to the UN Committee against Torture said that, based on the McAleese committee’s interviewing of 118 ex-residents, “no factual evidence to support allegations of systematic torture or ill-treatment of a criminal nature in these institutions was found”.
Documents released under Freedom of Information show the Government wrote to the orders in February 2013 asking them to formally contribute to the redress fund. It wrote again in January 2014.
All four orders stated they would not contribute any money to the scheme.
Regional leader of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity Sr Sheila Murphy responded on three occasions to then justice minister Alan Shatter stating its decision not to contribute was made after examining the findings of the McAleese Report.
Meanwhile…
On February 7, 2013:
Conor Ryan, in the Irish Examiner, reported:
The four religious orders who established and ran the for-profit laundries have substantial assets and it’s for this reason that the Justice For Magdalenes group (JFM) are arguing that the €296m made in property deals during the boom by these four orders must form part of a redress package. Many of the sites the orders haven’t sold and hold on their balance sheets continue to raise revenue by selling services to the State.
Three of the four orders that ran the laundries have earned €86m from the HSE from services provided on these sites in the past six years up to last year.
Previously: Did Your Nan Leave Money To The Nuns?
Substantial assets, but no more cash for redress (Conor Ryan, Irish Examiner, February 7, 2013)
Martin McAleese presenting his report into the Magdalene Laundries in February
It’s not washing.
From Saturday’s Irish Examiner:
Questions surround a section of the McAleese Report which states it asked the Ryan Commission to contact seven women mentioned in the Ryan Report who were in Magdalene Laundries.
Chapter 19 of the McAleese Report outlines how it asked the Ryan Commission to write to the women it spoke to and inform them of the McAleese committee and its work.
This was done as it was not possible for the Ryan Commission (CICA) to clarify to the McAleese committee what sections of the chapter referred to Magdalene Laundries, rather than other institutions because of legal issues.
However, minutes of a meeting of the McAleese Committee on June 26, 2012, obtained under Freedom of Information, which deal directly with its interaction with the Ryan Commission, completely contradict this claim.
In the minutes, it is stated that it was agreed with the Ryan Commission that it would not contact any of the women.…The McAleese report ultimately concluded that it could not determine if any of the women’s experiences cited in the Ryan Report actually related to the 10 Magdalene Laundries within its scope.
Lest we forget.
Questions over section of McAleese Report (Conall Ó Fátharta, Irish Examiner)
Previously:
(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)
And how.
A tribute to Martin McAleese by Irish Times religious affairs correspondent Patsy McGarry on Saturday.
*sigh*
