In response, the Irish government set up an inter-departmental committee, chaired by Senator Martin McAleese, to establish the facts of the Irish state's involvement with theMagdalenelaundries.
The Irish government's decision to apologise to the women who worked in theMagdaleneLaundries - workhouses run by nuns - has prompted members of the Bethany Home Survivors Group group to say they also want justice.
About 10, 000 women worked in the so-called Magdalen, or Magdalene, Laundries over seven decades -- and more than a quarter of them were referred there by the state, for various reasons including by the courts as a condition of probation, according to the report.