Sandrine Josso Photography

 

The Good Shepherd Convent, Magdalene laundry in Cork first opened on the 29th July 1872 and operated as an orphanage and a Magdalene laundry until the late 1970s. 

 

It has been estimated that around 30,000 women were admitted during the 150-year history of the Magdalen institutions. Most were incarcerated against their will at the request of family members or priests for reasons such as prostitution, being an unmarried mother, being developmentally challenged or abused. Even young girls who were considered too promiscuous and flirtatious were sometimes sent to the Magdalen laundry.The Laundries were disguised as rehabilitation centers for “fallen” women

 

The story of the Magdalene women was uncovered in 1993 when a religious order in Dublin cashed in on the booming Irish property market and sold a portion of its land to a developer. The bodies of 155 women who had died in the laundry were exhumed from unmarked graves and the media began to ask questions. The story went made international headlines with the release of Peter Mullan’s 2002 film “The Magdalene Sisters".

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The last laundry in the country was closed in 1996 and an apology was issued by Enda Kenny (Taoiseach). To this day, most survivors of the Magdalene  laundries have been denied reparation (redress scheme which was instituted in 2013)

 

Several fires ( 2003 and 2012) had extensively damaged the The magdalene laundry in Cork.

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More info: http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/press_releases.htm