The Case of Irelands Magdalene Laundries | S01E01: Synopsis 2023  

this is a great Docu!

@daveypayne5988 thank you very much.

My mum, who I sadly barely remember,as she died of cancer when I was three, was born in a Magdalene laundry. I recently discovered she had three siblings, who apparently all died in childhood. My mother escaped the laundry in 1960. My mother doesn’t even have a birth certificate. Thank you for this documentary. The pure horror of this was hidden for so long and went unpunished. Thank you brave ladies for speaking out.

I'm really sorry to hear that. The lack of record keeping is outrageous. It leaves us with nothing. It's not right.

​@@ADropintheOcean-lr5qnThank you so so so so so so sooooooo much for making this video and the impeccable presentation of it. Your decision to start the video by addressing and offering your deepest admiration and respect to any/all survivors of the Magdalene Laundries exhibited kindness, compassion, and understanding of the highest caliber. I also couldn't help but shed a few tears when you stated "what happened to the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries should have NEVER happened nor should it EVER happen to ANY woman/any group of women." Please continue to do what you are doing and please know that your channel just earned a new subscriber! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Yes it is infuriating! Especially when considered that it wasn't very long ago and yet it happened continuously without interference in any other way!! Thank you for commenting.

A lot weren't even pregnant.

Correct Emma, in fact very few pregnant women were ever in the laundries. But a number were sent directly from the Mother and Baby homes. Many, many girls and women in the laundries had never been pregnant. It's amazing how they are still thought to have been full of prostitutes and unmarried mothers (they were in the previous century). The next episode goes through 'Routes of entry'... it certainly debunks that myth at least. Its still heartbreaking to go through though

Also, girls considered to be "Loose" with their morals were sent to these places.

Exactly

I’m in NZ and had never heard of the Magdalene institutions, let alone in Australia. Truly shocking. Sending you and all the survivors best wishes and big hugs x

God love you. How awful. Wishing you peace and healing.

I'm so sorry 😞

@kalayne6713 I believe you and i support you in spirit my sister x

Sending you good vibes and nothing but God’s presence in your life

I´m also not surprised, for the same reason. I attended a Catholic primary school run by nuns in the early 60´s, and they were also vicious and cruel. it was obvious to me even as a 5 year old that some of them derived sadistic pleasure from their cruel behaviour towards young innocent lives.

I attended catholic school start of the 80’s run by the nuns they were the coldest cruel sadistic women I’ve ever met in my life.

Nuns were brutal and cruel even in the 70s, when i went to a all Catholic girls school.😢

All in the name of religion, shocking!!!!

I'll admit I've shed a few tears myself during research, it's all just so heartbreaking, humans being treated worse than animals. So much for 'all humans are equal...'

Thank you for watching!

There was obviously a very unhealthy attitude towards children, the very ones they were in charge of all over the country 😒 I'm sorry you went through that, I'm sure there are lasting effects for so many people to this day, it's just so wrong 😕

Heartbreaking

Yes Kathleen, women were definitely targeted unfortunately, it was an atrocity that should never have happened!

Women were always blamed for men's sexual advances. Never the men.

I agree. Recognition of the wrong that was done would go a long way towards healing.

@daisy13joyce The blatant and seemingly incessant hypocrisy that has been exhibited by the Catholic Church time and time again is one of the MANY reasons why I renounced my Irish Catholic faith at age 14....and I have never looked back.

It's a good reason to become a reborn pagan. You have druidic traditions in Ireland, go for it, it's well worth it ✌️🍀

Yes, there's no answer can be given to justify any of it 😔

It's so chilling to think of. There were 650 pupils at my school. More babies buried heartlessly in a sewer than numbers in the whole school. I think they dug up bodies at Fred West's house and everyone was disgusted and horrified and the building was demolished but the magnitude of this is hundreds of times worse. There's no explanation for all those wee lives lost and forgotten other than abuse and cover up on a massive scale.

@@coralmccrystal4606 Chilling is a good word to describe it unfortunatley. Yes the next Series I do is going to be on the Mother & Baby homes and the numerous Umarked graves. Then the Industrial and Reformatory Schools. It's CRAZY that there's so much to cover when it comes to absolute injustices of modern irish history. It's all very shameful to say the least. The cover ups are many, with no accountability. It's not right. Thank you for your comment.

This is not unlike the unmarked graves of indigenous children who were taken from their parents and put in residential schools in Canada. I just witnessed a search for graves using special radar equipment a few weeks ago. As soon as I realized what they were doing, I retreated as this was a sacred act. Hundreds were found at various locations run by both Catholic and Anglican churches. An official apology came from the government and then from the pope last summer. A committee of indigenous leaders went to Rome to meet with him and tell their story. Part of the truth and reconciliation commission recommendations was financial restitution for survivors. It created inter generational trauma.

Thank you Karen! I totally agree these women deserve only the best 👌

Each interaction with these videos helps (clicking like and commenting) so Thank you!

All politicians are self seeking nest feathers and all religions are evil

It was very well hidden indeed. I agree it's heartbreaking, none of it should Ever have been allowed to happen it's just horrible.

Yes she certainly tried. It wasn't made easy for her!

Yes it would be interesting to see if the Magdalene Laundries were similar elsewhere...it may be something I will cover in the future 🤔 We have a LOT of horrific injustices here since 1922 which NEED to be prevented from reoccurring so there's quite a bit I feel I need to document asap. But following that I may research how these injustices were also overseas. Thank you 😊

@@ADropintheOcean-lr5qn thanks for replying. I know an Aboriginal woman in her mid 70s now, who was incarcerated in a laundry for years in Perth Western Australia. I’m not sure who ran it but it was a “home for wayward girls”. Mostly girls who ran away from abuse in Catholic Aboriginal missions. I’m sure she said it was the sisters of something or rather.

So from 1 abusive situation to another 😔 that's horrible! Thank you very much for that information 🙏

​Watch rabbit proof fence, it'll make your blood boil. These rapists and criminals have alot to answer.

In Cherbourg Aboriginal Reserve in Queensland Australia, the Industrial School was established in the late 1890s to train the surviving young Aboriginal girls and older women in domestic service, laundry, cooking, cleaning, sewing, dairy work, tending gardens, caring for farm animals even droving cattle and child minding; and at the age of 12 were contracted out to work in the homes, farms and stations of strangers to work at whatever was determined by the contracted employers and the state. This carried on into the 1980s. Other states had similar set ups. No thought was given to the safety of Aboriginal children females and males. Laundries were not the only and main form or work Aboriginal children and adults were forced to work in. Sexual abuse and assault of these children and older women was a common experience. Those girls who returned to the reserves pregnant to some white employer or other white male staff were punished not the white males who thought this was not their problem; hence the problem of lighter-skinned children that became an embarrasment to Australian governments. Now those men (or their children) are the ones questioning Aboriginal identity the loudest based on skin colour. Stories abound of this type of treatment and are now well recorded in personal accounts and to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and Removal of Aboriginal children. Aboriginal people can relate to the Irish experience. A lot of Irish and English children were sent to Australia during WWII to build up the Australian population. A good Australian/English movie but very sad is Oranges and Sunshine about some ow what happened to these children too. I don't know what to say to the women and children from Ireland who experienced such cruelty but Bless you all and know that you are the strong ones.

Thank you Ivan! Very sad, and only gets worse the deeper it goes 😔 Unbelievable how some are more equal than others... 🇮🇪

Thank you very much! Horror is a fitting word unfortunately 😕

This „era“ ended just a few years ago. There are many who are still alive who should be prosecuted and be forced to help survivors.

Thank you, yes it's heartbreaking - and wasn't very long ago which is scary!! Episode 2 should be out shortly!

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I'm glad you're finding it helpful! Although there is information out there it is very scattered, it took me months to gather so I know exactly what you mean! Best wishes with your project, it's certainly on a worthwhile subject. Its great to hear you're studying it!!

Thank you very much!

100% agree!!!

This would be it. Same with the INCIDENTS with my indigenous ancestors who's children were taken and put into concentration camps called schools.

​@@researchbear4074yes. Justice for the children and mothers.

Thank you! 😊

It really is! Thank you!

Having spent many of my formative years in a convent boarding school I soon lost that respect for nuns - most bitter and twisted or “simple”.

Hopefully, more and more people will start telling the world about this. The more, the better!

Thank you Mick, the whole Tragedy definitely brings out compassion!

Isn't it amazing how such an atrocity is still unknown by so many!! It's one of my reasons for documenting this. It should be widely known.

@ADropintheOcean-lr5qn Yes, it is. And I have been sharing as the more we know, the more out cry for justice.

That's a horrible thing to do!! Did you ever get to approach her about it? What possible reason could she have believed was the good behind doing that???

Thank you very much. I wholeheartedly agree they deserve to live out their lives without wanting for anything after what they were put thought!

You are welcome. Thank you, it's the least I can do. Thanks for watching and for your comment!

Very disturbing 😒 and Thank you!

Thank you Jane, yes Torture is definitely the word.

Thank you very much 🙏 It's almost unbelievable that all this continued right up almost until the 2000's! Such an incredibly difficult time for the people 😔

Isn't it just unbelievable! It just goes to show what can be happening in plain sight. Exposure is key, in my opinion. Thank you for watching and commenting!

I remember watching the same when I Mum when I was 15 I’ve was traumatised the things those women had to endure was harrowing

One of Irelands best kept secrets, hiding in plain sight 😔

@@ADropintheOcean-lr5qn I guess the ladies would have to live to tell for the word to get around. That’s so sad.

Most women that survived the laundries fled the country, understandably 😔. Those who didn't mostly never spoke about it, even later on to their spouses or children. The stigma was unbelievable. If you spent any time in a magdalene institution you were automatically considered an 'untouchable'. It's all extremely difficult to believe. Partly why it was allowed to continue...those who tried to tell were not believed. The whole thing is like a really bad dream, imagine how much worse for those who were incarcerated. We need to own what we did here, otherwise there's nothing to stop recurrence. Thank you very much for giving it your attention ❤️

Very good point. This was slavery at its worst, perpetrated by the Catholic Church.

Conspiracy of silence comes to mind. A plotting Conspiracy from fellow Country men/woman. So sad. At least in their silence they know who they are with each other. Yuk

Yes, a small number of songs have been written on the Magdalene Laundries.

I'm a new subscriber.

Thank you for subscribing 😊

It's very difficult to understand how they got away with everything they did, ruling alongside the government 😕

Having been to a catholic boarding school run by nuns I had my eyes open to them from the age of 7. I only met one good kind nun in the whole time I was there and she was “simple”….

Yes and it has happened in other countries too 😔

Its also well past time that legislation allowing all churches tax free status along with many other legislative benefits most of us may not be aware of be revoked. They have been allowed to become too powerful, too rich, too autonomous, given too much authority to do as they please and to hoard the money for who knows what.. while parishioners are their slave labour more often than not living in poverty or close to it.

Now that is unimaginable torture right there SMH, it runs right through me , chilling to the bone.

You are welcome Jane! Thank you!! 😊

I'm really sorry to hear that. Have you looked on jfmresearch.com ? They have a section on adoptions to guide people on how to find their heritage!

Doesn't it just. I dread to think...

Er wasn't Rome responsible i:e RC Church.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Yes, I believe it was the first female prison in Ireland and Britain, but was closed as a prison prior to Independence, although I'm not very familiar with the details!

@@ADropintheOcean-lr5qn yeah there isn't a lot of info on the place at all. my 3 x Great Grandfather was an employee and lived there until his death in 1857. Evidence on his role there varies. At some points he is a 'Sentry' at others a 'Book Keeper'.

@daveypayne5988 it's such a shame we have so many blanks and so many discrepancies in our history.

Definitely! The Survivors MUST be heard, it's the very least the women deserve, plus hidden truths can not prevent reoccurrence 👌

Thank you very much.

You are welcome.

I'm sorry to hear that. The details on the records are indeed interesting... thank you for watching and sharing 🙏

Undeniably!

You summed that up very well! Unfortunately a lot of our modern Irish History has that effect 😕

I grew up in Germany so I'm not familiar with the Irish past but I'm aware of the bad Catholic reputation that's the reason why I'm not surprised..

Thank you. This is the first episode of a 6-part series. All 6 parts are now available.

I'm glad to hear someone stepped in to help you when you were vulnerable and in need.

Indeed. It is tragic. It needs to be known though. Thank you for watching and for sharing!

Nothing 😕

@@ADropintheOcean-lr5qn it would be good to find them and some how make them accountable. Many of course will be dead but listing those men would surely be appropriate

Men have always been allowed to have sex outside marriage, but never women. How does that work!!!

I'm really sorry to hear that. If it had been in Ireland it certainly could have been the reason. I don't know about the Magdalene laundries in England though. They definitely existed but I have only studied the irish institutions.

​@ADropintheOcean-lr5qn thank you for your reply. Hopefully, one day, the link to England will be made. My nan went on to marry and have four children. She died in her 88th year. Strong lady my nan. ❤

Thank you very much, a worthy cause by all means 🙏

Thank you very much!

Exactly. With the survivors in urgent need of medical care to name just one need, I'm sure the last thing they required was ongoing neglect...

Great question... Episode 5 should be out later today, then Episode 6, the final episode, will address those issues. Thank you for watching and sharing!

This one was definitely irish to the bone

It sounds eerily similar to our Mother and Baby homes, unfortunately... Mother and Baby homes will be the next series on this Channel.