A full state apology by the State over its role in the Magdalene Laundries would be be “an enormous step forward,” say victims.
It is expected the Prime Minister Enda Kenny will issue an apology next Tuesday, two weeks after the damning report into the State’s involvement into the Magdalene Laundries.
On Monday members of the Magdalene Survivors Together group spent three hours with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.
It was announced on Wednesday that the Irish leader was to engage in further meetings with survivors before next week's Dáil debate on the McAleese report.
Read More: American survivor of Magdalene Laundries in the United States speaks out
“I think it’s definitely his intention to issue a state apology,” said Stephen O’Riordan, spokesman for Magdalene Survivors Together, the Irish Examiner reports.
O'Riordan said that the Irish leader should have the “social intelligence to understand that to make the apology is definitely the right thing to do on behalf of all of the citizens” after hearing the harrowing stories of the survivors.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said he believes an apology from the State to the Magdalene survivors is forthcoming.
Varadkar said he thought “an apology will be forthcoming from the State because of the State’s role in those institutions.”
He defended the Taoiseach’s decision not to issue an apology last Tuesday, when the publication of the the McAleese report.
“I think the Taoiseach was right to digest the report to consider it and to meet some of the survivors before making that formal apology,” he told RTÉ News.
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