SURVIVORS of the Magdalene Laundries in Britain and Ireland will be entitled to a GP of their choice under the Irish government’s redress scheme.
Hundreds of women will benefit from the scheme, which will see them given the option of using a private GP or one with a contract with the Health Service Executive in Ireland.
For British residents who survived their time in the infamous institutions, funding has been provided for the operation of this scheme here.
Irish Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has stressed that it was never intended to limit the women’s choice of doctor.
She also announced the possibility of a separate initiative which will see “complementary therapies” provided to those who want them.
“This would be a separate scheme run on an administrative basis,” she said. “I will examine that and come up with some proposals within the department.”
From 1922 until the last one closed in 1996, more than 11,000 women passed through the Catholic-run Magdalene Laundries.
2013 saw a state apology being issued by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the governmental redress scheme was launched last year.
As part of the scheme, Magdalene survivors are entitled to free health services to those who were resident in any of the Irish institutions.
Many of the survivors have since made lives for themselves in Britain.
