As I indicated in my response to Parliamentary Question No. 90 on 22 February, 2017, an Inter-Departmental Committee was set up in 2011 to establish the facts of the State's involvement with the Magdalen Laundries. It was chaired by then Senator Martin McAleese and it is commonly referred to as the McAleese report. The material in the Report relates to 10 different institutions which were run by 4 different Orders of nuns over a period of 70 years.
Chapter 3 of the McAleese Report gives the history of the Donnybrook Magdalene Laundry. The sisters of Charity took over the Donnybrook Laundry in 1833. It was re-located to Donnybrook Castle in 1837 and was re-named St. Mary Magdalen's Asylum. In 1992 the premises was sold to a private company which operated a commercial laundry there until 2006. This former Magdalen Laundry building at Donnybrook was never in State ownership and I have no authority to give instructions as to its future development or in relation to any consultation process to be followed. Planning permission for any development on the site is a matter for the relevant planning authority. I should also point out that Justice Quirke made no recommendation in relation to the former Donnybrook Magdalen Laundry.