Cork Magdalene Laundry burns to the ground - suspicious police investigate

culchiewoman; I am most obliged to you. Sláinte!

@Towngate: Mother Catherine McAuley founded the Sisters of Mercy (they ran laundries in Galway and Dun Laoghaire, and they were unpleasant as well). Sunday's Well was run by the Good Shepherd sisters. So your comment is not germane to the article or to the order that ran Sunday's Well. I am well aware of McAuley's work and very conscious that the American Sisters of Mercy were the only order to publicly publish an apology to Magdalene Survivors. To date, none of the Ireland-based orders who ran Laundries in Ireland have apologised.

I was in Good Shepherd convent in the 70's when the sprinkler system was installed. It was one the first braised (non mechanical system nuts & bolts ) in Ireland. Who turned the water off.(they only had 2 leaks when the system was tested. who stopped the water??????

My own mother spent time in one of these places in Cork sometime around the second WW,i don't know which one because she just erased it from memory and never ever spoke about it,i have read the story about little Nelly and how her grave was reopened her body was still perfect and intact many years after she died,these buildings have such painful memories for so many women i'm surprised they are still standing,maybe just to remind us of the inhumanity that was visited on the population by people that used religion as an excuse to exploit and degrade human beings.

culchiewoman: As a member of Justice for Magdalenes, presumably you have read the history of Catherines struggle to do good - often opposed by the Bishops! - if not; do so at once and perhaps then you will understand my Comment.

The convent of hell burns.

A fitting end to this place is all i can say

On behalf of Justice for Magdalenes, we offer the following: we are saddened to see the further destruction of the Good Shepherd complex which forms a significant part of our country’s disturbing history. More importantly, we are deeply concerned for the dignity of the women and girls, numbering at least 30, who are buried in the graveyard adjacent to the location of the fire. More specifically, to Towngate's comment - there was no 'relief' and certainly nothing 'saintly' to be found at Sunday's Well, at least not for women like my mother who slaved there for 10 years doing commercial sewing at no pay (and with no PRSI paid). Sunday's Well serves as no one's 'noble legacy'. It speaks to a shameful, dark chapter in Ireland's history -- its 'architecture of containment' of society's most vulnerable and marginalised. Little Nellie may have herself a fine grave up front with the nuns, but then she was their special pet. Many more women and children lie unmarked and forgotten at the back of the property, with no access provided to families who might want to pay their respects or keep up the graves. @cathygret: Sunday's Well was actually the physical inspiration for Peter Mullan's movie and he was shaken after visiting it. We have called for measures to preserve and upkeep Magdalene gravesites time and again, but it takes a tragedy such as this to make anyone listen.

knockatee: IC headlines are famously odd-ball,so don't worry. Mind you, fires in themselves are not capable of suspicion, whereas Police are paid to be so. ~~~~ This is a sad end to a saintly dream started by Mother Catherine McAuley to bring relief to the sick and poor, but long after her death has been defiled and abused by people who didn't share her vocation. Fortunately the fine McAuley Schools thrive to this day and carry on her noble legacy.

If the movie depiction was anything close to reality, this place was a living Hell for young women. It is an appropriate ending.

The heading on this story is badly written. I don't think you meant "suspicious police" but rather "police investigate suspicious fire."

Good riddance!

At least now all the pain and dark energy is transmuted in the flames, so some good came of it.