Magdalen Laundry site donated for domestic violence refuge
April 16, 2013 - 7:30am
Sisters of Mercy hand over former convent on 99-year lease to Cope Galway
 By Denise McNamara

Victims of domestic violence are to find a new sanctuary on the site of a former Magdalen Laundry after an agreement was reached between the Sisters of Mercy and the housing charity Cope to gift the building on Forster Street.

Cope Galway has been operating a refuge in Woodquay since 1981 but because of increased demand for places and limited facilities on site for families, Waterside House had become unfit for purpose.

Over the last five years the charity had been actively searching for an alternative premises to accommodate women and children; earlier this year they approached the Sisters of Mercy about the site, which had closed as a Magdalen Laundry in 1984.

The Order responded by donating the property on a 99-year lease to facilitate a refuge with up to double the capacity of the current premises.

In 2012, there were 100 women and 130 children accommodated at Waterside House. The refuge had to turn away a further 214 women with 319 children who were experiencing a domestic violence emergency because no rooms were available.

The building offers ‘bedsit’ style accommodation, which forces families to live in one large room without access to basic cooking facilities during their stay.

CEO of COPE Galway, Jacquie Horan, said the current refuge offered safety and security to women and children escaping an emergency situation but the living arrangement is totally unfit for purpose.

“Families in a state of distress deserve better,” she said.

Cope approached the Order as they believed the building –- which up until last week was used as a residential convent – ticked all the boxes. Its location in the city centre, the fact that it was a gated, secure site and the potential to renovate to provide greater space for families and build a playing area for children all made it a good alternative to Waterside House.

The Rape Crisis Centre currently offer counselling services in an adjoining building on the site.

Cope are currently undertaking a technical examination of the building and are hopeful of opening the new facility by the end of the year. They have not yet decided the future of Waterside House, which they own.

The capacity of the Magdalen Laundry in Galway was approximately 110 residents and the occupancy varied from 110 in 1951, 73 in 1954 and 18 in 1984, the year it closed.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel