For most people the term "slavery" conjures up images of slave ships crossing the Atlantic between Africa and the Americas.

What went on in the Magdalen laundries in this State, however, was a very Irish form of slavery. We know that it continued from the foundation of this State until 1996. An estimated 30,000 women were detained in these laundries, which were run by Catholic religious orders. The State failed these women comprehensively. Religious orders used these girls and women as unpaid labour. Women incarcerated in these institutions worked for no pay, whilst the orders ran the laundries on a commercial basis in brutally harsh conditions. Those who tried to escape and were apprehended by gardaí were returned to the institutions.

Disgracefully, the Magdalen women were excluded by the State from the 2002 residential institutions redress scheme. In May 2011, the Government - represented by the then Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, Mr. Seán Aylward - appeared before the UN Committee Against Torture. At that time, the State claimed that the laundries were private institutions, that they were voluntarily occupied and that they were outside the scope of State responsibility, bar one exception. They persisted in this lie that nothing was known about the enslavement and brutality experienced by women in these institutions.

I very much welcome, at last, today's publication of the interdepartmental committee's report on the Magdalen institutions. That report underlines the fact that there was substantial State involvement in these laundries and substantial State negligence in the duty of care to these women. Therefore, the women have been vindicated. After all, they told the truth which is that the State failed them. When does the Taoiseach propose to offer - on behalf of all of us and of the State - a full apology to these women?

First of all, I want to thank Senator Martin McAleese, his assistant Ms Nuala Ní Mhuircheartaigh and the team involved in putting together the McAleese report into the Magdalen laundries. It is important to note that it was only in July last year that this Government initiated action to have such a report compiled and produced.

Clearly, Deputy McDonald has not yet had an opportunity to read this report. The 1,000-page report deals with the facts, as was the mandate given to Senator McAleese and his group. It deals with them in a way that is very different from the impression that many people might have of what happened. The number of people involved was not 30,000 but 10,012. The number of known admission from 1922 onwards was 14,607 which clearly meant that a number of women re-entered the Magdalen laundries on a number of occasions.

The admissions for which routes of entry are known are stipulated in the report at 8,025. The number of those referrals that were made, or facilitated, by the State was 2,124 or 26.5%. The average age at the time of entry was 23. The median age at the time of entry was 20. The age of the youngest known entrant was nine, while the age of the oldest known entrant was 89. Some 35.6% were there for less than three months, and 47% for less than six months. Some 61% were there for less than a year and 68% for less than 18 months.

I suggest that we need to absorb this report and reflect on its findings. It is 1,000 pages long so I suggest that we should take the opportunity to have a Dáil debate on this matter in two weeks' time. In the interim people will have had time to read it, reflect upon it and understand its findings.

The overriding requirement, as identified by Senator McAleese and his team, was to deal with the stigma attached to those who worked in Magdalen laundries and stayed in the accommodation there. It is important to recognise that in many ways Ireland in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s was a harsh, uncompromising and authoritarian country. That is reflected in the stories of the women who had the courage to come forward and say their piece.

It is clear from the report that there is no evidence of sexual abuse in the Magdalen laundries. There is one reported case of abuse by one resident on another. The stigma of branding together all 10,000 residents in the Magdalen laundries needs to be removed and should have been removed long before this. I really am sorry, and I regret, that that never happened. I am conscious, however, of the clarity of this report by Senator McAleese and his team.

Residents went into the Magdalen laundries through a variety of ways. Some 26% of them did so through State intervention or State involvement. I am sorry for those people that they lived in that kind of environment. We have seen what happened to the women who underwent symphysiotomies, or thalidomide victims, or those who were in mental hospitals - or lunatic asylums as they were referred to in those days - or many other places.

I admire the courage of those women for speaking out to Senator McAleese. I advise Deputy McDonald to read the report carefully because there is material there that has never been seen by the public. In putting this report together, Senator McAleese has had access to information, including the financial accounts of the sisters, religious orders and the laundries. The report has been well worthwhile producing and I am grateful to Senator McAleese for so doing.

I am sorry that this release of pressure by, and understanding of, so many of these women was not done before now. They were branded as fallen women and were often referred to as such in this State. It was not until July 2011 that the initiative was taken by the Government to deal with this matter in a comprehensive way. I want to see that those women who are still with us - I understand there are between 800 and 1,000 - are provided by the State with the best facilities and supports they need in their lives.

The report is comprehensive and detailed, and the statistics speak for themselves. Far from jumping to conclusions, everybody should read this report carefully and reflect on it deeply. It refers to an Ireland which was a very hostile environment in the far off past. These women who came forward with their testimonies to Senator McAleese spoke with courage of their involvement in, and the routes they took to, the Magdalen laundries. We should treat this report with a measure of calmness and consideration, which it deserves. We should return in two weeks to debate it in the Oireachtas.

The last of these institutions only closed its doors in 1996, so sadly this is not something that is simply a throw-back to the 1940s or 1950s. The Taoiseach spoke of the courage of the women coming forward to tell their true stories. I join with the Taoiseach in recognising their courage. I only wish that their courage could be matched by some courage on his part.

I have been greatly alarmed by what the Taoiseach had to say in the Chamber today. Everyone understands the report must be studied carefully but let us not forget that a huge amount of historically verified information and testimony was already in the public domain prior to the establishment of the McAleese committee. In fact, the present Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, spoke in 2009 of the irrefutable evidence of State involvement in the running of these institutions. Consequently, the time for the apology is now and one should not try to put some kind of positive gloss on what happened. These people were not residents voluntarily offering their services and labour but were young, vulnerable women who were held in institutions - in their minds imprisoned - and exploited. This is what happened and the figures are stark. Moreover, the Taoiseach is aware that two of the laundries have been excluded from the calculation of the number the Taoiseach put forward in the Dáil today.

Members must reflect on the report and I welcome that there will be a Dáil debate but I am disappointed for the women, that is, for the survivors, that the Taoiseach cannot say the State was culpable and negligent, that the women told the truth and the Government believes their stories and for that, it collectively says "Sorry". The debate will be held in two weeks' time. When then the apology and when then the issue of redress and compensation for these women?

Deputy McDonald should read the report. I have no intention of going down her route of wanting to make some kind of political football about this issue.

Come on.

Get out of here.

What I refer to here is the truth and reality, which has now been uncovered and laid out for everyone to read and to understand, to discuss and debate arising from the McAleese report. It might interest the Deputy that just over 10% of those who attended Magdalen laundries were sent there by families, while 19% of those residents in the Magdalen laundries went in there themselves. As I pointed out to the Deputy, the admission figures of 14,000 include numbers of women who went back to the Magdalen laundries a number of times.

It was because they had no choice. Come on. Stop spinning it now.

As I pointed out to the Deputy-----

It was because they were poor.

As I pointed out to the Deputy-----

And they were slaves.

Hold on now.

-----the youngest person to be admitted was nine years of age and the oldest was 89 years of age. This is not a report for any kind of glib remarks but is a report-----

Taoiseach, I do not want glib remarks.

I do not suggest she made such a remark.

I refer to an apology from the Taoiseach-----

The Deputy has not read it.

Sorry, through the Chair please.

-----as Taoiseach, to those women, which is long overdue.

I am not suggesting-----

I have been very liberal here once again. Do not abuse the generosity of the Chair here. We are over time here.

Moreover, when you were on these benches, you were very clear that an apology was needed.

What Deputy Shatter said when he was on the far side of the House in opposition has been proven to be true. There was State intervention in respect of numbers of these residents of the Magdalen laundries.

The wise old man of the Government.

That is outlined in the details and statistics uncovered by Senator McAleese. However, Deputy McDonald should be aware it is not a single issue story. All 10,000 of the residents arrived in the Magdalen laundries through a variety of circumstances and for a variety of reasons-----

I am aware of that.

-----not the least of which was destitution and poverty, as was outlined starkly in the report. Consequently, as I stated, I really am sorry that it has taken until July 2011 to trigger the initiative by the Government to have a report-----

Many were brought in forcibly by the State.

-----such as that put together by Senator McAleese with his team.

The United Nations forced the Government to deal with it. The Government was forced by the United Nations to do it.

I am grateful to him for doing that and regret very much that-----

The Government was forced by the United Nations to do it.

It is in the programme for Government.

-----that the stigma attached to those residents in-----

This is disgraceful on the Taoiseach's part.

---- those Magdalen laundries was not removed over very many years when something could have been done about it.

Thank you.

Consequently, I look forward to Deputy McDonald's contribution-----

I look forward to the Taoiseach's apology.

-----in the Dáil debate-----

More to the point, the women await the Taoiseach's apology.

Please.

----in two weeks' time.

Thank you. Deputy Boyd Barrett, without interruption.

More whitewash.

It is more like a blue wash and is disgraceful.

Deputy Higgins, would you show respect to your current leader?