Government criticised for not publishing Magdalene laundry inquiry files
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Professor James Smith
An academic involved in researching the Magdalene laundries has hit out at the Government for failing to publish the records from the McAleese inquiry, the Irish Examiner reports.
Professor James Smith, who is based in the English Department at Boston College and involved in Justice For Magdalenes Research, said there was “no transparency” in the inquiry.
His book, Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries and the Nation’s Architecture of Containment, was awarded the Donald Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Book by the American Conference for Irish Studies in 2007.
Professor Smith said: “The government of the day chose not to establish the McAleese Committee on a statutory basis with powers to compel evidence. Rather, the orders were allowed to voluntarily supply their records to the committee, which were returned to them at the end of the process.
“Copies of material made by the committee were destroyed.
“This arrangement was agreed at the outset. There was no transparency. Public and/or academic scrutiny of this material was not permitted. The McAleese Committee archive is not subject to Freedom of Information requests and it is not clear whether it is subject to the provisions of the National Archives Act.”
The archive is currently held in the Department of the Taoiseach, which has no plans to make it publicly available.
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