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THE DEPARTMENT OF Justice neither sought nor received any specific legal advice from the Attorney General’s office prior to responding to the report on the State’s involvement in the Magdalene Laundries.
The government’s decision to not issue a full apology following the publication of a report which found the State responsible for admitting over a quarter of the women to the institutions between 1922 and 1996 has drawn widespread criticism.
It has also led to claims that the government was advised to avoid offering a full apology on behalf of the State for its role in the women being incarcerated in the laundries as it would amount to admitting full liability and open it up to claims from survivors.
Responding to a query from TheJournal.ie today, the Department said that the Attorney General received a copy of the report at the same time it went to the government at a Cabinet meeting yesterday morning.
But a statement said: “No specific advice from that office has been sought or received by this Department.
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“As a general matter, when legal advice is provided it is not the practice to disclose the contents of such advice,” the statement added.
Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin told RTÉ Radio this morning that the Attorney General attends Cabinet as is customary and “advises the discussion”.
But he pointed out that the Constitution prohibits him from discussing matters that are raised at Cabinet such as the report which was delivered to it by Senator Martin McAleese yesterday.
Howlin added that the government wants to make a “compassionate response” to the report and do so in a “considered, appropriate way”.
Read TheJournal.ie’s coverage of the Magdalene Laundries report:
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A huge congratulations to this teacher and her students, what a fantastic way to teach and share.
I’m straight onto Amazon to buy a good few copies of this book to pass around to teachers that
I know. Well done.
Quick follow up, on Amazon the book looks to be only available as a kindle copy. Can someone
let me know if there are any print copies available. Thanks.
I’ve published 7 in total. 3 are self-published. I am always in awe of very young people putting their work out in the world. It is a daunting process with a lot more hard work from many individuals working toward a common goal. It’s fantastic that publishing has evolved to a point this sort of project is possible. Congratulations to all involved.
The state is bound to protect the personal rights of the citizen, and in particular to defend the life, person, good name, and property rights of every citizen.
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