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25th October 2021
02:11pm BST

While the Magdalene laundries may not have been run in the 1990s like they had been before the 1960s, the fact that they still existed in an Ireland that we considered modern and progressive is shocking.
In 1993 the law in Ireland banning homosexuality was thrown out, but it wouldn't be until three years later that Irish women fully felt like they were out of the shadow on the laundries.
For many victims of the laundries though, they will never fully be free of its shadow.
Still, to this day, very little has been done to help the victims of the many Magdalene laundries that were scattered around the country.
Dating back to 1922, countless women walked through the doors on the laundries, some never leaving and those that did walk away, left with endless years of trauma.
Those who were adopted from the laundries have also felt that their rights have been violated as they have been unable to have their adoption records released to them.
The laundries are a part of our history that we can't ever hide from and we shouldn't.
They should serve as a lasting reminding of what happens when a nation turns its back on its young women and children so that as a country we never make that mistake again.Explore more on these topics: