Dublin Magdalene Laundry

Mark Coen is a Lecturer in Law at University College Dublin, Ireland. His historical research has been published in the American Journal of Legal History and the Law and History Review. He is the sole editor of The Offences Against the State Act at 80: A Model Counter-Terrorism Act? (Hart, 2021). Katherine O’Donnell is Professor, History of Ideas, at UCD School of Philosophy University College Dublin, Ireland, and is a member of the Justice for Magdalenes Research group. She is also co-author of Ireland and the Magdalene Laundries: A Campaign for Justice (Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris, 2021).Maeve O’Rourke is Assistant Professor of Human Rights at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, University of Galway, Ireland, and a member of the Justice for Magdalenes Research group. She is also co-author of Ireland and the Magdalene Laundries: A Campaign for Justice (Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris, 2021).

• Introduction – Mark Coen, Katherine O’Donnell, Maeve O’RourkePolitical, Cultural and Social Contexts of Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry1. The Religious Sisters of Charity: Origins, Development and Controversies, Mark Coen Donnybrook 2. Magdalene Asylum and the Priorities of a Nation: A History of Respectability, Lindsey Earner-Byrne3. ‘Cheap in the End’: A History of Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry, Mark Coen 4. ‘Magdalene’ Testimony from the Donnybrook Laundry, Katherine O’DonnellSocial, Commercial and Legal Significance of Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry5. Designing Donnybrook: Conceiving Ireland’s ‘Architecture of Containment’, Chris Hamill6. ‘Benefactors and Friends’: Charitable Bequests, Reparation and the Donnybrook Laundry, Máiréad Enright7. Accounting at the Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry, Brid Murphy and Martin Quinn8. ‘Women of Evil Life’: Donnybrook Magdalene and the Criminal Justice System, Lynsey BlackHeritage and Memory 9. Contemporary Archaeology and Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry: Working with the Material Remnants of an Institutionalised Recent Past, Laura McAtackney10. The Material Evidence of Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry(i) Museum Display and Interpretation as an act of Social Justice, Brenda Malone (ii) Archival Legacies, Barry Houlihan 11. Guerrilla Archive: Donnybrook and the Magdalene Names Project, Claire McGettrick

A Dublin Magdalene Laundry is not only an excellent, well-documented account of one of the biggest Magdalene Laundries in Ireland ... It analyses the social, cultural, religious, and political ideologies, as well as the class and gender biases that contributed to the construction of a deeply patriarchal society ... The book also gives a voice to survivors, something that official enquiries have denied them. For all these reasons, it constitutes an important contribution for those researchers, survivors, and members of the general public interested in Irish history, historical abuse, institutional violence against women and children, and processes of transitional justice. a national identity based on sexual morals that placed a burden on women’s lives, bodies, and sexuality.