Victim of Catholic asylum wins 'bittersweet' compensation battle

A WOMAN from New Milton who was forced to work in one of Ireland’s notorious Catholic-run asylums has been awarded just under £70,000 after a lengthy battle for compensation.

Mary Cavner (80), who grew up in County Cork, Ireland, was denied an education when she worked in a Magdalene Laundry from the age of 11 after her father died.

They were initially institutions for what were described as "fallen women", and saw 10,000 young females pass through them between 1922 and 1996 who worked behind locked doors, could not leave, and received no wages.

She told the BBC that receiving the payment was "bittersweet" and her fight was "never about getting compensation" but to "hold those who made me stay in the laundry to account".

Mary was separated from her siblings and despite only being 11 when she arrived, she received no teaching from the nuns and experienced long-term hunger while working into the night looking after babies, cleaning, working in the laundries and preparing meals for the nuns.

The mother-of-five was originally denied compensation and the pay-out has come almost 70 years after she was first placed in the Good Shepherd Convent in Sunday's Well, County Cork.

The Irish government said that 770 former residents of the laundries have so far been awarded more than €29.8m (£27.32m) in compensation.

However, Mary said she was told by the authorities she would not receive compensation because the laundry she worked in was not eligible under the government's redress scheme.

A lengthy legal battle arose and she complained to the Irish ombudsman, which went on to recommend that the redress scheme be extended.

The Irish Department of Justice and Equality has now awarded Mary a lump sum of €50,000 (£45,800) and a further €26,000 (£23,800) which will be given to her in incremental payments in the future, resulting in a total of €76,000 (£69,600) being paid to her in compensation.

Speaking on BBC Radio Solent on Wednesday morning, Mary said: “I feel bittersweet really.

"In my case I was successful and thanks to the people who took it on I am so grateful but I think of the other people who have been through what I have been through who have not managed to get justice.

“If I have been successful in getting at least one person to come out and say what they’ve been through I am sure and absolutely certain they would also be successful.”