The film is based on The Magdalene Laundries but instead of looking at happened in the Laundries we focused on what kind of life these women had once they left the Laundries. It is close to a Michael Moore style documentary.
Our main character, Maureen Sullivan had been trying to get justice and her then solicitors of four years could not prove her story to be true.
The documentary starts with Maureen explaining her life after she left the laundry. From this we follow up her statements and put the pieces of her puzzle into investigation. Through all that we travel to England . Its there where we realised the enormity of what we were uncovering, after all Maureen鈥檚 mentioning of tunnels which seemed crazy at the beginning was in fact true after we broke into St.Aidans Industrial school, something her solicitors could not get access to.
We learned more about the enormous injustice put upon these women, no education, no rights, no games, living in chamber cells, no name, birthday, no dignity. They could not talk or speak. There stories go beyond this as they are heartbreaking full of pain that has destroyed many peoples lives including that of Mary Collins whose story is told in our documentary.
We came back from England ready to take a stand for these women. We secretly filmed nuns, we tracked down documents that seemed out of reach, we show up the government for there lack of support and show a system, which to me is a complete and utter shambles. We highlight this through phone calls, emails and letters etc. For Maureen鈥檚 case it was a matter of never giving up. In short, from the making of this documentary Maureen has received justice (redress). Maureen is the first woman in Ireland to prove that the Magdalene Laundries and Industrial Schools were indeed connected something that nuns and the authorities completely deny.
On our journey we also discovered the shocking truth behind how Magdalene women were buried. We show that to get into one particular grave we had to break down the gate with a rock, where the nun鈥檚 graves were well treated the Magdalene graves were completely neglected.
We also discovered that in 1993 a Magdalene Laundry was sold to a developer. When the developer started to build flats he had to stop as he found 155 bodies in the ground. The nuns produced a register with 133 names, a few names not accounted for however the names on the register were listed as unknown, unidentified, , Mary ? , cause of deaths unknown, when they died unknown.
These 155 women were then buried in a mass grave in glasnevin. Strangely enough names appear here but the nuns wouldn鈥檛 make up names and dates, would they??
Maybe the date 31st April 1948 will make you think otherwise!???
To date these women have suffered so badly and have not received justice. The redress scheme does not include the Magdalene Women. We are in talks with the Labour Party to get this scheme changed. We are also looking at getting monuments put up in memory of these women.
What we have achieved to date is amazing. We have changed people鈥檚 lives but with a little help and support we can help the 30,000 women that passed through the Magdalene doors get justice.
The nuns made a lot of money from this organisation something we show and back up in the documentary.
On my final note, 6 weeks ago I visited Donnybrook where a former Magdalene Laundry still exists. The nuns own this building and the surrounding area. Myself and Steven were filming graves at the back of the laundry. When we went back to the car we saw 3 women staring blankly at us. There eyes sunk in, to me they looked like zombies from a Hollywood film. It turns out that these women are Magdalene Women; they have never left the Magdalene Laundries since there childhood days. They are terrified and will not speak to anyone but the nuns.
Seeing this is one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. These nuns to do not have the qualifications to care for these women. Why is it that the guards or government don鈥檛 put these women into rehab, hospitals or homes so they can get proper care??
One possible answer to this question is, like Kathleen Legg in our film, Kathleen didn鈥檛 know her date of birth, and at age 76 received her first passport Do the women in Donnybrook have documents, as in do they exist. These women, to me were aged between 50-60. They could be someone鈥檚 mother.
I hope this enough food for thought, and this is only a snippet of many stories I could tell you. It is quite bizarre and a story that needs to be told. If you are interested in seeing this film and supporting the cause please join/visit and leave a comment.
www.bebo.com/theforgottenmaggies
We are setting up the film to be shown in various places and we are also in talks with RTE.
The film is being shown in the prestigious New York Film Acadamy.
Comment and read to help 30,000 women and more get justice. more info below.?
Absolutely fascinating. The whole true story will probably never be known. Ireland was for years held down.
Comment and read to help 30,000 women and more get justice. more info below.?
Whoo...sounds like some bad stuff went on, all in the name of The Holy Father and The Vatican.
This is perhaps not the best forum to publicize your efforts - there must be a number of support groups for the many men, women and children that have suffered at the hands of these %26quot;Christians%26quot;, I suggest you post information on their websites.
Good luck.
wow
I grew up in a town where there was a Magdalene Laundry and was educated at Roman Catholic towns. The laundry was a dirty little secret then (80`s - mid 90`s).
It`s awful that people use religion as an excuse to treat people like this.
