Here’s an interview with one victim that discusses a lot of what went on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbe4HqgGfB8

There was an article in the Irish Times on 25 September 1996 about the closure of the last laundry in Dublin. The following are extracts:

A controversial chapter of Dublin life will end next month with the closure of what’s believed to be the last of the capital’s convent laundries, that belonging to the Convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity in Sean Mac Dermott Street. At the height of its productivity 15O women worked in this laundry. Today 4O women are in residence at the convent, the eldest of them 79, the youngest in her 40s, all of whom will remain living there after the laundry closes on October 25th.

Approximately 40 per cent of the women who came here in the past were single women who became pregnant and were rejected by their families, says the Reverend Mother, Sister Lucy Bruton.

“What we tried to do, in some cases successfully, was to provide money and protection for women in need. Of course we failed, we made mistakes. One of my greatest regrets is that we continued with the status quo rather than pioneering change. If a woman came in today with her daughter I’d tell her to get lost. I’m not saying I’d refuse to take the girl but I’d indicate to the mother that you don’t hide people away,” Sister Lucy says.
………
Of the women there, nine have no known relatives. The relatives of some other women residents, though known, rarely if ever come to see them. Sister Lucy says she regularly telephones the families but they still won’t come to take the women out. A few years ago one woman was not even told by relatives when her mother died, Sister Lucy says. The family delayed telling her because they didn’t want her at the funeral.
………………………… In the 1930s and 1940s, the Sean Mac Dermott Street laundry and residential home would take in over 100 women a year. “This was at a time before the dole, social security and unmarried mothers allowances were available,” Sister Lucy says. “It was a time before families realised that even if a daughter had let them down they didn’t have to hide her away.” ………….

The nuns maintain that they supplied a need for a certain number of people. “You could say that if the sisters had been more enlightened in the 1920s they’d have made different decisions,” she adds. “They might not have tried as hard to hold onto the women who came here. There was a hierarchical attitude on the part of the nuns and in society generally – `them and us’ and we know better. Even so, a lot more women left than stayed. Many of the women didn’t have a hope in hell without us. The alternative in many cases was to go on the streets. Girls have gone on the streets and been murdered. I’ve seen it happen.

“It might have happened a lot more if it hadn’t been for the convent. You can’t judge those times by the standards of today. The Order came to Dublin in 1853, shortly after the Famine. What was the alternative for many women then but the streets?” A number of mildly mentally handicapped women came to the nuns when their mothers died and there was no-one else to care for them. Some of the mentally handicapped women had babies as a result of being sexually exploited. In the view of the nuns these women were in danger and could not have been allowed out. “Others went and were free to go.”

A woman in her twenties with a mild mental handicap was admitted as recently as last year.

The url of the article with the Irish Times quotes is
http://irishsalem.com/irish-controversies/the-magdalene-laundries/lastdays-25sept96.php

You will note that I ommited the observations of Magdalene “expert” Dr. Frances Finnegan who was the historical consultant for a TV documentary on the Magdalene Laundries – this in turn inspired the film “The Magdalene Sisters” which depicted the nuns as monsters of cruelty. ONE of the reasons why I do not accept Dr Finnegan’s credentials as an impartial historian is the following:
http://irishsalem.com/irish-controversies/the-magdalene-laundries/index.php

[b]Nuns ‘unsuited for streets’ Claim Rejected (Evening Herald, 1st April 1998)[/b]

Furious Dublin prostitutes today rejected a suggestion that because nuns are celibate, they have no place working with women on the streets. Their anger was sparked off after comments from author and social history lecturer Dr Frances Finnegan. Dr Finnegan said it was “disturbing and distasteful” that celibate women were still allowed concern themselves in areas like prostitution and women’s refuges.

Allegations
Dr Finnegan, the historical consultant for the TV documentary on Magdalen laundries, was speaking in the context of a need for a sworn enquiry into abuse allegations.

But Tina, who works in prostitution in Dublin retorted: “The only ones who care about us at the moment are the nuns. They are with us on the street at 4am or 5am. If there is a woman raped they go to the hospital with her. What help do we get from any other women’s organisations?”

Tina said she had been contacted by friends about Dr. Finnegan’s comments. “Good Shepherd sisters and Sisters of Charity in Dublin are providing the only help women on the streets are getting”, she said. “We can talk openly about our work to them. They have also opened up educational courses for women, “she said. “I was a victim of the nuns when I was a child and I have the scars. But I do not blame the nuns of today”.

Thanks guys, that is really helpful,