These are the graves of the women, who lived in the Magdalen Home in Galway. It was operated by the Sisters of Mercy. It closed in 1984 and 18 women remained in the care of the Sisters.  

COPE Galway have now the lease (99 year lease) on the Mercy convent. I spoke to both the Sisters of Mercy and the COPE. I spoke to the sisters on Monday and COPE today.

I was assured there will be access to the graves on the convent grounds and my concerns regarding the building were noted. I don't want sledgehammers to be used on statues of Our Lady and objects of piety.

The convent in question holds the archives of the Mercy order. Any concerns should be made to the Sisters or COPE Galway.

COPE Galway plan to use the convent as a refuge for women.

I told the Cope Galway representative there should never be separation between Church and State. I was basically telling him religion and politics should mix and it is the business of Church to involve itself in politics and economics.

The situation could be worse. If it were five or six years ago, the Mercy order would probably have sold it to developers. I did challenge the sister politely about selling the Magdalen Laundry to a bank. * The part that was the laundry was sold to the former Anglo Irish Bank and rest of it became apartments. There was a murder in the apartment block over a decade ago. The part that became the bank is up for sale.